A Hydralisk Named Bane: The Bane Series
by deadfast
Summary: Bullets will fly and scythes will slay in this ongoing action series where a pair of the most unlikely allies turned best friends must work together to save the Starcraft universe as we know it.
1. Bane

Forward: This isn't your older brother's thumb-stick copy of Bane. As the title suggests, dearest reader, this chapter has been entirely rebooted from its original form, as will the next nine chapters to follow. It is now darker. More serious. More detailed. My true appreciation goes out to those readers here who have followed my story for so long; I am still working on chapter 20, but perhaps rewriting these classic chapters will take some of the sting out of waiting so long. Enjoy! **(If you would like to go back and read the original 'Thumb-Stick' copy of Bane, look it up on my old website, The Hive: thehive)**

_Continuity Issues:_ The rebooted first season will be different from the original in many ways, and the mismatches could get ugly later on. Note that, to date, I have only rebooted the first chapter, the rest of season 1 is still original.

**The Bane Series Rebooted: Chapter 1**

At first there was nothing but darkness and cold. There was no pain, but that came with the feeling of the floor pressing up against my back. I brought a shaking gloved hand to my forehead and struggled to sit up. With a throaty groan, I came to full consciousness with the worst head ache of my life. The four weeks in rehabilitation after the psionic dampener implants was an ear-swab compared to this; it felt as if my brain was swelling to the point that it threatened to bust out of my skull like some sort of alien.

I began sweating bullets in my tactical armor as I bit back against the pain, willing it to recede. For the first time, I was able to unclench my eyes and get a look around. My helmet, mask and targeting gear were missing, along with the control pad for my personal cloak generator. I still had most of my armor and environmental suit, but the later was useless without the mask. I appeared to be in a stepped, circular chamber with a high ceiling. A great, round column occupied most of the space in the center. It was made of some sort of translucent material and extended the height of the room. A dim blue glow radiated from where it met the floor and ceiling, offering the only illumination.

It was difficult to tell in the dull light, but the entire room looked to be made of the same yellow, metallic material. _Protoss_. As I looked around, my eyes fell on a pedestal set into the wall behind me. There, in plain view, was a sight to behold. The long, gray barrel and boxy steel stock could be recognized anywhere. It was my C-10 canister rifle.

Before my senses had fully awakened, I pushed to my feet and stumbled toward the outcropping in the wall. My vision was spinning, but the feel of the weapon in my hands brought a much welcome comfort. Panting against the continuos throb of my headache, I jerked the bulky magazine free and checked the contents before returning it. Four anti-armor rounds; it wasn't much, but it was a far cry from hand to hand combat if I had to fight my way out of this place.

That's when it hit me. Where the hell was I? How did I get here? It was obvious that I was a captive, but why take all my equipment only to leave my body armor and canister rifle? I nearly fumbled the weapon as my head went for one last spin. Slowly, I was able to dredge up bits of memory.

The Zerg invasions had only intensified after the Brood War. Our unit was dispatched to support the third defense garrison on Tarsonis, where dominion military presence was the weakest. Our perimeter around the capitol was broken on the third day when a second wave of Zerg descended from orbit.

There was something terribly different about that particular brood. The Zerg driven before the Queen of Blades was infamous for their mindless zeal and an insatiable lust for battle, but these beasts fought with the individual cunning and intelligence of seasoned warriors. Swarms of zerglings came with the synchronized coordination of a schools of fish. Our siege fire was wasted as they feigned left and right, dodging the shells as if they knew exactly when and where they would fall. Mutalisks dove and churned in the sky; bombing the lines and intercepting our missiles with well-aimed glave wurms.

We were in constant retreat. Nearly half the city was lost to the invasion before the Protoss mysteriously appeared overhead. An immense, round vessel materialized over the skyline with dozens of escorting fighters in tow. I had seen carriers before, but even their immense size paled in comparison to this flying wonder. A fierce ariel battle ensued between the two alien races, with our crippled army and thousands of civilians watching helplessly from below. The mass airborne chaos was both terrifying and awe-inspiring, but before the last Protoss fighter plummeted to the streets trailing a ribbon of blue fire, the Mothership came to a halt above the war torn capitol.

Even the Zerg seemed to hold their collective breath as a shadow settled over. Despite the swarming cloud of mutalisks that bombarded it from all directions, a brilliant shaft of light beamed from the bottom of the ship. The scene hung for what felt like hours, but it could have only been a few seconds. There came a sudden, blinding flash of light and a sound like mountains crumbling. Then, there was only darkness.

And now I was here. Although I still had no idea where _here_ was, I knew one thing for sure. _I had to escape._ There was a threshold for a door at the East side of the room, but there were no visible controls for opening it. For a moment, I thought about blasting my way out and quickly reconsidered. Even if the rounds punched through, there was no guarantee that the door would give after word. Whoever put me in here apparently didn't want me to leave, and I surely didn't want to confront them empty handed.

My headache was still pounding, but I tried to force it down and focus my thoughts. Through the pain, I could vaguely feel the presence of two living creatures on the other side of the door. As I tried to probe further, I suddenly noticed a _third_ presence. It was in the room with me.

I spun around to face the large, translucent tube in the center of the room. Trying to get a feel for the thing inside was almost like staring into a mirror. My breath stopped in my throat. This thing, whatever is was, had a psionic waveform nigh identical to my own. All cadets were trained to recognize a psionic match very early in the Ghost program. Matches were highly desirable for co-op teams due to the individuals' sixth-sense connection. Perhaps this was part of the reason I was here.

Slowly, I approached the tube with the C-10 gripped in one hand. I could see a blotchy outline of the thing inside, but a thick layer of frost obstructed the already-poor view. When I lifted my free hand to wipe a spot through the frost, I nearly jumped out of my boots.

The second my hand touched the glass, the tube was bathed in light. Inside, suspended as if frozen in time, was a _monster._ Instinctively, I hefted the long canister rifle and took a few steps back.

It was a Zerg Hydralisk. I had seen hundreds of them before; even caught a glimpse of the deadly Hunter-Killer breed and lived to brag about it. None of them held a candle to this abomination.

The serpentine body made it difficult to judge its actual standing height, but this thing had to be pushing near twelve feet. From the bulky plates that comprised the exo-skeletal beast, it looked like it could shrug off explosions and its curved, macabre blades were almost as long as I was tall.

My finger found the trigger and began squeezing. Before I realized it, I was bearing my teeth in a furious scowl as I thought of all the destruction and misery these _things_ had wrought. The Dominion had an excuse for its crimes; it was greed. But the Zerg only seemed to kill for the sake of it, as if each planet they left lifeless was another trophy in their galactic case. _It was time for me to return the favor._

I raised the C-10's barrel in line with the monster's skull, using the simple iron sights in absence of my optical targeting equipment.

"You got off _easy_, you murdering, alien son of a bitch."

The sound of the weapon's report thundered in the confined space of the chamber, instantly followed by the unearthly shatter of the stasis cell. I was temporarily blinded by the two-foot muzzle blast and an eruption of vapor, but I felt the weight of the beast when it dropped on the deck.

Steam gushed from the floor and ceiling, where the stasis cell used to be anchored, and it quickly began to fill the chamber. Warily, I stepped back from the churning cloud of vapor. Beneath the hiss of escaping gasses, I could vaguely hear a rattle of glass shards and a brief scrape of heavy carapace on metal.

Initially, I thought that this thing might take two shots to put down, but I had no _idea_ just how ineffective the canister round had been. I felt the sudden movement and turned in kind with the rifle, but I was a full three seconds too slow.

Launching from the steam like something escaped from a nightmare, the wall of carapace and muscle fell on me faster than anything so large should have been able to move. It hit me so quick that the blow of its blade on my throat and the impact of my head hitting the wall seemed to come at the same time. I would have been killed instantly if the beast hadn't struck with the blunt edge of its scythe.

For a moment, I was blacking out for lack of air. Finally, my crushed windpipe opened just a crack and I was able to draw a precious, wheezing breath. Bright spots danced across my vision and I found just enough sense left to be surprised that my feet were off the floor. The monster's continuous growl made the wall behind me tremble and the stink of its breath was like rotting corpses. Grappling feebly against the suffocating pressure on my throat, I braced myself for the stinging blade of death.

Five seconds passed and I was _still_ alive. That was impossible. Despite what I might see, I opened my eyes and stared back at the massive hydralisk that held me pinned against the wall at arm's length.

The double set of overlapping jaws were studded with jagged fangs. It drooled non-stop, seemingly accelerated by the growling. The armored skull showed little, if any, damage from my canister rifle. I was stunned about that, but its eyes left me terrified despite all my experience with the Zerg.

Like a twin pair of crimson lamps, they glowed with a fierce luminescence all their own. There was no pupil, only a bright red orb that seemed to bore into my soul. I could feel it leafing through my mind like a book, searching me. I tried to hold back, but it pushed through my mental defenses like they were made of wet paper.

"_Go on!_" I finally managed to scream, powerless against the beast's mental and physical strength, "_Kill_ me!"

The thing's eyes burned a shade brighter, but it did not move otherwise.

"What are you _waiting_ for? _Finish_ it already!"

Like a weight lifting away, I felt the hydralisk quickly leave my mind and it's head snapped to one side. Half a beat later, the sealed doors to this chamber slid open momentarily and two Protoss stepped inside. They were zealots by the look of them, fully outfitted in combat armor. Their psionic blades arched to life with a crackle of energy as they assumed a fighting stance. With an agitated snarl, the beast turned to accept their challenge, simultaneously releasing its death-pin on my throat.

I dropped to the floor and collapsed to my knees, gasping for air. Holding my crushed throat in both hands, I turned to see the alien battle unfolding before me. Slithering forward almost lazily, this over-grown hydralisk towered above its opponents. It was two-to-one odds, but this Zerg had the advantage in power and reach. Lunging forward like their legs were spring loaded, the zealots charged.

A brilliant blue flash lit the chamber when the first zealot's shield absorbed a brutal upswing from the monster's scythes. Though it may have blocked the deadly edges, the momentum carried through and smashed the gangly alien against the ceiling. The first zealot dropped back to the deck as its comrade shot by on the right and buried both searing blades in the hydralisk's flank.

Snarling in outrage, the furious hydralisk turned on the second assailant, bring both scythes down like a falling mountain. The zealot managed pull its own blades up in time to block the edges, but the weight and power behind them could not be stopped.

A telepathic scream tore across my senses as the Protoss warrior was cut down by its own weapons. By now, the first zealot had recovered and leapt to its feet with psi blades cleaving the air. Particles of energy and bone flew in miniature starbursts when the hydralisk actually _parried_ the incoming attack with a single timely sweep of one blade. The second scythe came right behind the first, catching the zealot off-balance.

Another, brighter flash of a failed plasma shield dazzled my eyes as the hapless warrior was hurled against the wall. It hit face-first and flopped lifelessly on the deck, bearing a cavernous gash in the armor on its back.

In less than ten seconds, this monster had fought _two_ zealots at once and slaughtered them both like it wasn't worth the effort. If the Protoss were having as much trouble with the new brood as we were, it was no wonder they burned the city. And now they had me trapped with one of them._ What the hell was going on here?_

I had dropped the canister rifle when I was hit by that drooling, armored truck, but it lay only a few feet away. Still on my knees, I leaned forward on one hand and reached out to take the weapon back.

Just before I touched the grip, the stamped steel rifle practically exploded in my hand. I reflexively recoiled and covered my face with one arm as little bits of metal shrapnel peppered me. When I looked again, what remained of the gun was nailed to the floor by a series of oozing, foot-long spikes.

Without warning, a malevolent telepathic voice boomed over my thoughts.

"_Stand, Mortal!_"

I had experienced communication with Protoss before, but they were effectively hospitable by comparison_. _Demonic would be putting this lightly; It sounded as if the maw of hell itself had spoken.

Moving only my head, I turned to face the hydralisk. It stood among the bodies of its slain enemies, scythes dripping in blue blood, and glared down at me with eyes burning like the heart of a fire. Its own dark red blood ran down one side of its immense tail from the dual slashes left in its side.

"_STAND!_"

The telepathic message repeated like a clap of thunder in my mind as the nightmare roared simultaneously, hurling drool with the wind of its breath. This thing was actually _speaking_ to me. Reluctant though I was, this was not the type of statement one could ignore with confidence..

Slowly, I got to my feet. I would have given my right arm for the control pad to my cloak generator just then.

"T-this...this isn't possib-"

"_SILENCE!_" The creature suddenly demanded, interrupting me in mid-ramble, "_The First-Born shall RUE the day I was imprisoned! And you shall do as I command or share their fate!_"

I was speechless. My brain simply couldn't take everything in at once. The battle with the Zerg and the arrival of the Protoss; waking up in their custody with no recollection of how I got here, and now _this_. The best response I could muster was a hesitant nod.

To my surprise, the hydralisk quickly seemed to understand this human gesture. When it spoke again, I noticed that its glowing eyes burned a bit brighter with the rumbling words.

"_A wise decision, Mortal_. _The First-Born would not be so cooperative, otherwise you would have already met death._ "

This beast represented my sworn enemy; the last thing I wanted to do was take orders from it. However, I shuddered to think of the consequences if I refused.

"_You shall follow closely. Stray from my path and your life is forfeit. Allow yourself to be injured by the Protoss, and I will devour your limbs for sustenance. Should you survive, you shall aid in my escape from this colossal, flying prison._"

So that was it. I was on some sort of Protoss ship; a big one by the looks of it. Since it worked so well before, I nodded again. The hydralisk glared at me a moment longer before turning to face the door at its back.

"_Come, mortal. My vengeance beckons." _

I watched in trepidation and mild curiosity as the beast approached the closed metallic hatch. Without hesitation, the hydralisk speared both scythes into the door. The surrounding bulkhead groaned and the door itself actually began distorting before it was violently torn from the frame with a screech of parting metal. The monster hardly even recoiled from the abrupt release, turning and hurling the heavy hatch aside in the same motion.

I couldn't believe this thing's unnatural strength. Even the new strains we fought on Tarsonis paled in comparison.

Although they were built for the height of the average Protoss, the hydralisk had to duck and squeeze through the doorway. For lack of an option, I followed, staring down at the ruined bodies of the zealots in passing.

I stepped out into an expansive hallway with rows of doors like the one we came through. The hydralisk was a few paces ahead, turning its head slowly and sniffing the air.

"_Keep close, Mortal. The First-Born are aware of my plan and will strike at you given the opportunity._"

I stepped up the pace, staying right on the creature's tail. Ahead, the hall widened at a junction large enough to accommodate a siege tank. Out of the blue, the hydralisk suddenly stopped and I nearly stumbled into it.

"_They approach._"

The floor jolted beneath my boots and a high-pitched noise whined from behind me. I looked back and saw two immense slabs of yellow metal sliding into place, sealing us in the hallway. The pounding of heavy feet thundered from the junction ahead; the tell-tail sign of an ambush. From each direction, zealots with dragoon escorts charged around the corners.

There were four melee fighters and a pair of the cumbersome, quad-legged machines bearing down on us with no hope for retreat. However, the unreal hydralisk stood its ground unflinchingly. At the last moment, the beast sent me a simple telepathic message.

"_Stand back._"

I dove to one side of the doorway and tried my best to meld with the vertical bulkhead just as the monster hurled both scythes out in sweeping, horizontal swings. All four zealots were sent reeling back to the deck as they tried to dive on the hydralisk at once and got caught in its surprising reach and power.

The dragoons were already in position and took this opportunity for a clear shot. Following a brief phase disruptor charge, they fired. The hydralisk only had time to bring both arms and scythes together in front of its face to block the beams. Crackling blue explosions engulfed the beast on impact, washing around the armored mutation as if they were hitting a granite boulder. Slightly charred, the hydralisk emerged from the smoke and fire and met the returning zealots with scythes cleaving the air.

The first one to meet demise attacked with both psi blades, only to have them repelled in kind before a devastating third swing from the hydralisk got under its defenses. Practically torn in two across the middle, the unfortunate warrior's telepathic scream cut the senses as it was hurled into one of its charging brethren. The last zealots leapt around their fallen comrades and came at the beast from the sides.

One stayed low, lunging in with its blades in a scissor motion, and was met with point-blank blast of barbed spikes. Following a bright flash of its overwhelmed plasma shield, the alien's head vanished in a splatter of flying, wet matter. A pair of the spikes themselves thunked into the wall right next to me, having passed through their target like jell-o.

The other zealot had gone high, diving through the air with its weapons outstretched. It planted the blades deep in the beast's thick, spiked backside upon landing, and now the second zealot had recovered and was racing in from the front.

With a sudden, mighty heave of its tail, the hydralisk lunged backwards and crushed its unsuspecting passenger into the closed blast doors with bone-shattering force. The maneuver couldn't have come at a better time if they had rehearsed it. The zealot attacking from the front hit nothing but air with its flailing psionic daggers and fumbled forward into the waiting scythes of the hydralisk.

Another telepathic cry rang out and I had to fight to keep from averting my eyes. The alien warrior was gruesomely impaled through the chest by one scythe. Its psionic blades flickered twice and blinked out.

Instead of finishing its enemy, the hydralisk hefted the wailing zealot of its feet and used it as a meat shield against the incoming phase disruptor pulses from the dragoons. The rippling explosions obliterated the zealot, but it took the brunt of the force as the hydralisk closed the distance. This was all the time the beast needed.

It was on top of the clumsy machines by the second shot, bringing both blades and what remained of the zealot down on the nearest contraption center mass. The machine's boxy legs splayed out and blue fluid sprayed into the air as it was crushed to the floor.

Monster and machine disappeared in a plume of fire when the final dragoon fired again from zero range. Bursting from the smoke and flame, a continuous volley of armor-piercing spikes rained against the walker's plasma shield and punched holes in its armor like soggy cardboard. The walker stumbled backwards in the hail, finally crumpling to the ground in a smoking heap.

I peeked around the bulkhead for the blast door when everything suddenly became silent. Zealot bodies lay scattered and broken on the floor and their blood was splattered everywhere; even on the ceiling. The hydralisk stood in center of the junction ahead, among the smoldering piles of wreckage that used to be the dragoons. Albeit burned and bleeding in several places now, it had won.

"_Their pitiful assault has failed. Come Mortal, we press on."_

I stepped over and around the carnage, moving quickly to catch up with the hydralisk as it disappeared around one corner. My mind began to race as I followed this insane creature. Perhaps this wasn't a death trap after all. If the beast could keep this up long enough to run across a hangar, perhaps I could _borrow_ a small craft and get the hell off this crazy crate.

That's when it hit me. I practically came to a stop with the realization. Of course; the thing had read my mind back in the stasis chamber. As a tactical specialist for the Ghost program, there wasn't a craft that crept, rolled, hovered or flew that I couldn't competently handle. And this hydralisk _knew_ it. _That's_ why it needed me to get off the ship. Without warning, the beast's telepathic voice snapped me from my thoughts,

"_Keep moving, Mortal!_"

The hydralisk was almost out of view already, having ascended where the hallway sloped up. I jogged to catch up and was stunned by the view at the top.

The hallway opened to an enormous place with ceilings easily five stories high and a quarter mile deep. I craned my neck to stare up at a massive blue crystal before us. At almost thirty feet across, it reminded me of the type the Protoss had scattered around their settlements to power their buildings. Despite its titanic weight, it floated ominously in a turning shaft of light emitted by a raised platform underneath. There were at least a dozen of them, all lined down the center of the expansive room The very air seemed to hum with dense energy.

This was the heart of the Protoss ship, the core that powered it. How did the hydralisk know where to find it?

"_Wait here._"

The beast crossed the open floor toward the first crystal core and stopped before the wide base that held it afloat. With a thundering roar that echoed from the highest corners of the room, the hydralisk lifted both long sickles high over its head and brought them down on the crystal's base with all it's strength. The metal-rending blades plunged deep into the alien machine, causing it to burst to life with spiraling arcs of crackling energy. Despite the tendrils of electricity that seemed to reach out for it, the hydralisk raised its blades and struck again and again. On impact of the fourth strike, a hot, white flash consumed my vision.

A fountain of energy erupted from the base in an explosion that billowed around the crystal and rose to the ceiling. The immense prism listed to one side before dropping onto the base altogether, triggering a second, larger explosion as it toppled into the one behind it. The deck quaked beneath my boots, threatening to throw me off balance.

The chain reaction only intensified as one core after the other exploded into raging clouds of blue fire and escaping energy. I began to back down the ramp. This was crazy; the whole chamber was going up. Just when I was about to turn back and abandon my captor, the Hydralisk emerged from the inferno.

Once again, I was struck speechless as the monster briskly passed me by, carapace dark and charred, as if this was all part of the plan. I turned after it, but I couldn't remain silent any longer.

"What the hell was that for? Do you have-"

I was interrupted, briefly occupied by keeping my balance as another, deeper explosion rocked the ship.

"Do you have any idea what that will do? This whole crate is going to come apart around us! We've gotta get off this damn thing!"

In any other case, I would feel like a loon yelling at a Hydralisk, but today, it seemed almost normal. I half expected the thing to turn vicious for speaking out of line, yet it surprised me once again.

"_Impressive,_" it growled without stopping, "_You have proven more insightful than I predicted, mortal. It is most fortunate for me that the rest of your species have not inherited such all-knowing intelligence_."

It was difficult to detect much variation in the bestial telepathic voice, but I could have sworn it was being _sarcastic_ with me.

We quickly reached the junction in the hall again and turned left this time. About fifty yards ahead, there was an open blast door leading into another large chamber. We were just over halfway there when an ominous tremble rattled the ship around us. In a textbook picture of the odd-couple, both the hydralisk and I looked back when a blast of light and sound came from behind.

A river of blue fire engulfed the junction and spilled out to fill the adjacent hallways, billowing up the corridor on our trail like something alive. I didn't wait around to be told by the hydralisk.

"_RUN!_"

To my horror, the blast doors ahead began closing. They were attempting to seal off the fire. Using its scythes as well as its tail, the alien reached an astounding speed for something so ungangly, but it wasn't fast enough to beat the doors.

The beast jolted to a halt, having jammed its blades into the last few inches before the two mammoth plates of yellow metal met in the center. For the first time, the hydralisk seemed to be pushing the limits of its strength. It snarled with exertion, struggling to force the vault-sized doors back apart.

"C'mon!" I yelled, panicking as I shot a glance at the wall of fire rapidly closing the distance, _"COME ON!"_

A fountain of sparks erupted from the protesting actuators and jets of escaping vapor hissed from the metal-work. Slowly, the doors actually began sliding open again. However, it still wasn't enough.

In an act of desperation, I threw myself at the widening crack and put everything I had into forcing it open faster. My added effort was but a fraction of the beast's, but it was enough to push it over the edge. The doors were almost two feet apart when the blast of fire struck.

It was only dumb luck that the incoming wave of hot air launched me between the doors and into the next room. I hit the deck on my face and instinctively rolled to one side, just avoiding the cone of flame that scorched from the open doors like a roaring furnace.

The horizontal column of fire grew briefly as the doors widened further. After a full five seconds in the consuming heat, the hydralisk was finally able to slip through.

The torrent of fire suddenly died, sealed off behind the blast doors as the hydralisk collapsed forward on both scythes. It's a charred arms trembled as it fought to hold itself off the deck and its once-smooth carapace was cracked with burning embers. As I sat up and watched, I noticed it was panting smoke. The mutant hydralisk seemed to be in bad shape now, but it was _still_ alive. It lifted its head long enough to glance at me and I could _see_ the pain in those flickering, crimson eyes.

It was actually _feeling_ pain. Perhaps it was human weakness, but for a few seconds, a tiny part of me actually felt a sliver of sympathy for this monster.

Shaking from the lingering adrenaline, I got to my feet and turned around. I couldn't believe my luck; it was the hangar.

This place competed in size with the power core room, only it was sectioned off into eight separate bays. Each one housed an interceptor, complete with its own automated repair station. Occupying the space down the center, a long robotic assembly line sat motionlessly. Its prone arms stuck out in different directions like metallic, skeletal limbs. At the far end of the hangar, the vast blackness of space could be seen through a transparent energy field that sealed the atmosphere inside.

Hovering a couple inches off the ground, three shuttle transports waited in a row at the head of the assembly line. My ticket out of here was only thirty paces away. I shot a backwards glance at the hydralisk. _Damn_, I breathed silently. It was getting up.

It's armored exoskeleton crackling and smoking, caked with scorched blood, the hydralisk moved to stand next to me. The fire was held at bay for now, but the ship still tremored beneath me with ever-increasing intensity. It was only a matter of time. Despite the deplorable condition of its body, the monster's telepathic voice was without pause.

"_Time is growing short. Let us depart this wretched place before-_"

Without warning, another booming telepathic voice that competed with the hydralisk's cut across the senses.

"_DAMNABLE VERMIN!_ Rakeem was a FOOL to believe this _Terran_ could destroy the cerebrate! Now, my brethren must pay for this mistake with their lives. _YOU WILL SHARE THEIR FATE!"_

Suspended in a vortex of twisting psionic power, the owner of the voice approached from around the assembly lines. My mouth almost fell open in disbelieve and fear; it was an Archon. An _angry_ one.

Standing even taller then the hydralisk, the ethereal demi-god hardly finished its furious outroar before it loomed toward us with startling speed, gathering a wave of psionic energy in its wake. This was it; I was certain we were both going to die. However, the hydralisk spoke as if this were just another zealot coming to be slaughtered.

"_Ready the flying machine, Mortal. I shall deal with this pathetic whelp._"

Stunned, I glanced to the Archon once and back to the hydralisk. This creature may have represented the scourge of the galaxy, but I couldn't help admiring its courage.

"_Go!_" The thing snarled at me urgently, "_NOW!_"

No sooner than I made a break for the last shuttle in the row, Archon and Hydralisk met.

From six feet away, a psionic explosion issued from the Archon's joined palms. The monster brought both scorched scythes up in attempt to block the incoming blast of energy, but to no avail. A hot, white flash lit the furthest corners of the hanger and vicious electrical crackle filled my ears. Briefly, the hydralisk was engulfed by the sheer mass of the psionic assault before it was launched backwards across the deck like a line-drive fastball.

Trailing residual psionic energy, the monster skipped twice before crash-landing in one of the interceptor bays like a train wreck. The small craft crumpled beneath the half-ton of sailing zerg and blossomed into plume of fire and flying shrapnel. Bits of smoldering metal rained against the nose of the shuttle I huddled beside. If I had any intention of jumping on board and leaving the combatants behind, they were brutally stamped out as the livid Archon spun to face me.

"_NOW it is your turn to die!_"

The thing barreled across the room towards me, closing the distance at an unnatural rate. I began to backpedal away from the shuttle, despite how futile escape might be. However, the swirling psionic nightmare stopped short as its plasma shield suddenly reacted, deflecting a barrage of lethal poisoned spikes. The archon craned its neck to see where the attack had come from, and I followed its gaze. Never in my life had I been so happy to see something Zerg.

"..._YOU?_" The Archon bellowed, "You will SUFFER for your insolence!"

Defying death itself, the burned, bleeding hydralisk emerged from the wreckage spewing a cloud of needle spines. I dove to the deck before the next sheet of spikes rained against the Archon's rippling plasma shield and pelted the shuttle hulls around me. The infuriated entity practically flew across the hangar toward the assailing beast, charging psionic energy in both hands. The hydralisk moved sideways, blasting the enemy with wave after wave of spikes, but they were all absorbed harmlessly by the Archon's immense shields.

Backed against the sealed blast doors, the hydralisk suddenly had nowhere left to go. In a last stance of desperation, it beared its blades as the Archon bore down on the beast with the fullest extent of its wrath. At the last possible moment, the hydralisk threw itself to one side as the Archon unleashed a concentrated orb of psionic energy.

As if someone had thrown open the gates of hell, a tidal wave of fire washed into the hangar from the ruined blast doors. The river of flame coursed around the Archon as its shields briefly protected it, but not long enough to escape.

A torturous telepathic scream filled my mind as the unstable psionic abomination exploded, unleashing a shockwave that rocked the ship and pushed the fire back in a semi-circle.

Finally, it was done. I stood and watched the fire rushing through the blast doors, growing rapidly in intensity as it consumed the ship. Jets of flame burst through the floor at increasing intervals and plates of metal began dislodging and dropping from the ceiling. It was time to go.

I strained my eyes one last time, scanning the wreckage and flame for the dark figure of the hydralisk, but it was nowhere to be seen. It had fought a good fight, but in the end, it was good riddance. I turned on the scene and raced around to the back side of the shuttle.

There was no visible way inside, but when I put my hand on the shuttle, the hull parted wide; revealing a pristine yellow interior that illuminated automatically. There was a huge cargo space inside, large enough for two siege tanks, but I paid it little attention as I ran through it to the windshield at the front.

There wasn't a cockpit or even a place for a pilot. I was at a total loss for ideas; there weren't any controls to be found anywhere on the shuttle. A deep, thudding explosion resounded from somewhere low in the carrier and the shuttle heaved violently beneath my boots. I had to think of _something!_

"...God damn it!" I swore, running my hands through my hair, "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

After all I had been through, I was going to die right here in the very ship I planned to escape with. I sighed in complete exasperation and slammed my palms down on the smooth, rounded dash below the windshield.

I was nearly knocked to the floor when the shuttle lurched up beneath me, its thrusters suddenly singing to life. Of course! The Protoss controlled everything psionically; All I had to do was think it.

"_Go on._"

I could almost _taste_ the fresh air of Tarsonis when that rumbling telepathic voice halted me in mid-thought. In utter disbelief, I looked up and stared through windshield. _The hydralisk was alive_. Having dragged itself from the fire, the monster lay sprawled on the hangar deck. Its combined injuries left it too damaged to stand on its own, so it simply glared at me with those piercing, crimson eyes.

"_Leave me._"

I thought seriously about doing just that, and I wanted to. Any other day of the week, I would have jumped back off that craft just to kick the beast in the face before I left it to burn alive, but _something_ held me back. As if in its final death throes, the carrier groaned and shook beneath the shuttle, and burning debris fell from above. Yet, still I hesitated.

"_What are you waiting for, Mortal? Leave me._"

The shuttle's thrusters wound up to speed as I gave them the mental signal. All my experience and memories of the destruction and death screamed at me to go, but a tiny, solitary voice in my mind objected at the last moment.

_This wasn't right. _This monster once had such an opportunity, but wether for its own survival or otherwise, it had refrained from sealing my fate. Was I really going to turn my back and leave it to die?

To be Continued...


	2. Bane 2: Return to Tarsonis

Bane hadn't said anything else since we left the carrier. He didn't even move much, just rolling and groaning every once in a while. According to the life-support systems on board the drop ship, he was in critical condition. The fight with the archon had all but killed him. For three hours, I silently flew the drop ship through the void of space with nothing but the bleeping computer and the whining engines for company. I stared out the front view port and sighed. The trip back to Tarsonis was going to be a long one with just a puny drop ship for transportation. I heard the clawing, scraping sound of carapace being dragged across steel. I looked back and Bane had dragged himself into a sitting position against the drop ship wall. He sent a strained message to me,

"So we made it, huh?" I looked over my shoulder and said,

"Yeah, but barely." Bane managed a weak snarl,

"Ha! I thought I was dead. You mean to tell me my misery continues?" I chuckled a little, grateful that Bane hadn't gone into a coma, if that can happen to a Hydralisk. I was also glad for someone to talk to, it was very boring staring out the front window. I put the drop ship on auto-pilot and un-strapped myself from the pilots seat. I walked back to where bane was sitting to inspect his injuries more closely. He was still severely burned all over, the carapace was cracked and bleeding from being crushed against the steel hull of the carrier. "Will you be ok?" I asked as I looked down at the battered creature barely recognizable as a hydralisk. He lifted his head up for just a second,

"Yeah, but it will take a while to fully recover." He let his head droop again.

"How can I help you?" I was beginning to worry. Bane was silent for a while before answering,

"Now that you ask, Im starving. What do you Terrans keep around to eat?" I reached to the overhead compartment were the emergency supplies were kept. There were boxes of spare ammo, emergency flares, oxygen tanks, first aid kits, and a ration pack. I pulled the ration pack down and ripped it open, spilling the bulky calorie supplements everywhere. Bane looked up to see what I had gotten into.

"What," said the hydralisk, obviously disgusted, "Are those?" I pulled out a few of the ones marked turkey dinner and offered them to him,

"They're not food, but they have the vitamins and calories of a regular meal. They are all we have for now." Bane waved one scythe and I reached down and jammed the turkey dinners in his gapping mouth. Bane swallowed them without chewing at all, but he nearly spit them back up.

"How do you Terrans survive on these things?! Remind me as soon as we land to get some REAL food." I dug back into the overhead compartments,

"Tell me about it! We have to eat that crap all the time." Bane reached out and stabbed another supplement off the floor and stuck it in his mouth, "They're puny meals too, not very filling at all." I laughed again and kept rummaging through the compartments. I found two more first aid kits, another pouch of calorie supplements, and an old magazine someone had left onboard. I moved up front and checked the pilots compartment. Inside I found something I had longed for all day, a gun. "Ah yes! Here we go!" I said out loud as I held up an old .45 with two extra clips, already loaded. I guess the old pilot of this ship didn't entirely trust some of his passengers. Bane looked over and nodded at my find,

"It is a pathetic weapon at best, but its better than nothing I guess." I nodded and dropped it back into the pilots box. Bane slumped a little more against the wall, resting his scythes across his body,

"Now that we are safe, I find myself quite...exhausted," His eye lids sank slowly over the big red orbs, and in a few minutes his rasping breath came slow and steady. He even looked half-innocent while he slept. I yawned and dropped back into the pilots seat. Now that he mentioned it, I was a little tired too. I set the auto-pilot to take us back to Tarsonis and enter orbit. Then with the controls set, I reclined my seat and let sleep take me. The last thing I saw were the stars slowly slipping by the front view port as the drop ship rocketed toward home.

A psychic message penetrated my dreams, bringing me back to the world of reality,

"Awaken mortal, your machine is having a fit!" I snapped my eyes open and the red planet of Tarsonis filled my view port. An annoying little buzzing noise was coming from the dashboard. I sat up and punched the auto pilot button. It had gone off because we reached our destination. Bane was standing behind my seat, apparently feeling a little better.

"You sleep more than the zerglings!" he told me. I ignored the joke,

"We might as well start our re-entry, buckle up if you can." Bane started to look confused, so I helped him wrap the cargo straps around his arms-the ones we used to secure siege tanks and goliaths. Then I jumped back up front and buckled the cross straps that held the pilots in their seats for re-entry.

"Hold on," I said as I pushed the control stick in to break orbit. The planet loomed larger and larger in the view port. An alarm went off and flames began to burst up around the windows as we entered the atmosphere, blotting out our view.

"Is this normal?" asked Bane.

"All in a days flight!" I yelled over the noise. The drop ship bounced and jostled us around while a roaring noise drummed from the hull. Slowly, the vibrations eased and the noise faded as the reverse thrusters slowed our decent. Before long, even the flames outside the windows ebbed down and went out as well. Grey clouds filled the windshield, but after we got closer I realized that they weren't clouds, but smoke. The drop ship leveled out and Bane cut the straps off his scythes and moved up front to get a better view. He noticed the smoke right away, "Something doesn't smell right, there may still be battles waging on your planet-keep your eyes open." As if on cue, the hostile alarm started buzzing. "Oh, great-we got company already." I said as I scanned the sky for what had set the alarm off. I didn't have to wait long to find out as the ship rocked suddenly with the screeching rip of tearing metal. "What is it?" I yelled, struggling with the controls to keep the ship in the air. Bane moved to the back and moved around to different view ports,

"It's a zerg mutalisk!" I sighed with relief,

"Oh good, then tell them its you and they'll stop attacking," My relief didn't last long as Bane shot me a message,

"I never said I was on their side!" I gassed the engines and wove around in the air, trying to loose the pursuing mutalisk. It proved all too futile as another glave wurm ripped through the hull of the drop ship, rattling the controls in my hands.

"We wont last long like this!" I had to yell again over the wrenching metal. Bane sighed and moved to the back of the drop ship,

"Keep flying, I'll take care of the mutalisk." I winched as another rip of metal sounded and an alarm went off, telling me that one engine was down. I heard Bane snarl and I glanced back in time to see him impale the rear cargo door, tearing it off the hinges and letting it fall away to the ground far below. The ship rocked and shuddered with the sudden gain in air resistance. Bane stuck both scythes through the walls for balance and blasted a volley of needle spines at the mutalisk. The mutalisk swerved in the air, trying to dodge the projectiles. It squealed in pain as one of Banes shots hit its mark. Then the mutalisk dove and came back from below, sending a glave wurm through the bottom of the ship. The wurm ripped straight through the floor and bounced around inside, seeking new targets. Bane ducked as another wurm came through the back door, shooting right past my ear and shattering the windshield. Wind whistled in and glass fragments were sucked out the open rear of the ship as the mutalisk disappeared and came up right behind us, so close Bane could nearly reach out and touch it. The hydralisk pounded the mutalisk before it could retreat from the hail of needles that sprayed from the back of the drop ship. The buzzing alarm went off again as another engine went out. The ship barely moved now, the mutalisk could practically do loops around us.

"This isn't going to work!" I yelled once more over the straining engines and the roaring rush of air. Bane looked up to the cargo wench above the door. He wrenched both scythes free from the wall and watched the mutalisks flight pattern carefully. Then, with the cargo wench hook clenched tight in his jaw, he dove out of the back of the drop ship. I saw his dive from the corner of my eye and was going to stop him, but I was too late. I was suddenly alone in the ship save for the wind and the whining spindle of the cargo wench. Bane had timed his jump perfectly-he flew out of the ship in an arc to slam scythes first onto the back of the mutalisk. I heard the mutalisk roar in anger and a rush of purple wings shot by the open rear of the ship. Bane was on its back, hacking and stabbing away with his deadly blades. The Mutalisk loosed one last squeal as Bane hacked off its left wing. No longer capable of flight, our pursuer dropped like a stone-spiraling towards the planet. The nose of the ship suddenly lurched upward as the cable went as taunt as a guitar string, catching Banes weight and jerking the rear of the ship down for a few seconds. The remaining engines whined to regain the lost altitude as I tried the auto-pilot and found that it no longer worked. I unbuckled my belts and moved carefully to the rear of the ship and pressed the button to start the wench. The ship shuddered and started to dive so I had to jump back up front and grab the controls again. The droning electric motor brought Bane close enough to stab a scythe in the floor and pull himself back inside. He clawed his way to the middle of the drop ship and lay there panting, getting his breath again. Another bleep started going off on the radar screen, indicating friendly units.

"Oh , what is it now?!" Bane complained.

"It's ok, I think its some of my boys. Some terrans must have survived the protoss attack, and are still fighting to stop the zerg here." Bane caught his breath and moved up front. No sooner had he moved than a few terran buildings came into sight. It was a small base at best, everything was a flaming wreck. Missile turrets, bunkers and barracks were going up in smoke. I kept flying and the base got closer. I could see marines running around to different bunkers below, shouting things to one another. A few of them saw my drop ship scooting overhead and waved their guns in salute. I wagged the drop ship for a response before slowing it down and bringing the ship to a smooth, hovering stop next to a starport. In truth, the ragged machine hit the ground like an old muffler; with metal bits and pieces falling off of it, causing unruly clanging sounds to complement our sputtering engines. Marines filed up beside the ship to see who would come out. Bane sidled slowly to the back and stuck his head around for a peek. I winched as Bane lurched back inside and a hail of Gauss rifle shots riddled the side of the drop ship.

"Maybe you better let me go out first," I said to him. He nodded his approval,

"Good idea. And one more thing-do you mind telling them not to kill me?" I got up and eased to the edge of the drop ship,

"Hey!! Its me! Charley! Don't shoot I'm coming out," I yelled outside. I stuck my head around the side just to make sure they wouldn't shoot me by mistake. Marines had taken up positions at our flank, rifles raised expecting something terrible to step outside. A few of them lowered their guns a little in confusion when I looked outside. One of them spoke up,

"Hey! It IS Charley! We thought you were fragged days ago!" I sighed my relief and a little smile crept across my face as I stepped the rest of the way outside. It was good to be in the company of humans again. My old friends lowered their guns and started asking a dozen questions,

"Were you been? What did the protoss do to you? How did you escape? How did you get back?" They blurted questions until I started talking again,

"I was captured by the protoss, they took me prisoner. They even stole some of our ships," I patted the busted drop ship beside me,

"And I escaped with one." Cheers rose around the crowd,

"But I did so only with the help of a friend," Bane looked out at me.

"It may seem strange but he's on our side. Don't shoot, I'll lead him out," I turned and waved Bane out of the drop ship. He shook his head and I waved again. Slowly, he edged his way back to the side of the drop ship. I stepped over so I would be between the marines and the hydralisk to reassure my friend. Bane eased his way outside and gasps moved through the crowd. I could hear clips locking and guns raising everywhere in front of me. Murmurs and whispers drifted around.

"Are you sure he's on our side?" someone called out.

"Just kill it!" somebody else yelled. I stood my ground between my friends.

"He's hurt, we need a medic over here!" I got nothing but confused looks in return.

"Common! This is Charley talking, remember? I said I need a damn medic!" No one believed me, yet. I sighed and reached behind me where Bane held his scythes low and jerked his arm in front of me.

"What are you doing?!" He asked my mind as I forced his arm over my shoulder and held the deadly scythe inches from my own throat. I yelled so everyone could hear me,

"Now if I didn't trust him, WHY would I do this?!" I let the long blade go and Bane moved it to his side again.

"You heard me! GO GET A MEDIC!" I was beginning to get aggravated. Finally, the marines eased their weapons and someone ran to get a medic. One of my old friends put his gun down and walked to were I stood, guarding Bane.

"I'm sorry Bud, it's just that were so used to shooting at them.

The medic brought her healing light and before long Bane was as good as new. They also brought an SCV who cut the chains off my wrists.

"You need a gun?" He asked me as he delicately worked the fusion cutter around my wrist. I though about the 45 in the drop ship and decided a trusty gauss rifle or even an old C-10 would be better if they could dig one up. I nodded my head. He finished cutting the bonds and they fell to the dirt with a dull clang,

"Go check out the supply department, they'll give you everything you need. The grubs pretty good today, too." Bane followed me to the supply depo,

"He means food right? You terrans hafta eat something besides those tasteless supplements!" Bane asked. When we got there, a shrimpy little dude behind the counter asked me what I wanted, after staring at Bane for a few minutes, "Wadaya want from me?"

"Got a C-10, with some lockdown rounds?" I asked. He shook his head,

"Nope, all out of C-10s today, but the Gauss rifles are in stock." I sighed,

"Ill take one of those then," Bane gave me a shove,

"And three cheeseburgers to go." Bane shoved me again,

"Make that 5 cheeseburgers!" He just looked at me funny and went to get our order. The smell of cooking food wafted around and Bane started slobbering drool. It was kinda funny-looking, even though he couldn't really help it-  
he doesn't have lips. The clerk came back with my gun and a big greasy sack of hamburgers-fresh from the photon cooker. I reached out and took my gun while Bane stabbed the burgers with one scythe and jammed them in his mouth-wrappers and all.

"Hey!" I said, "One of those were mine." Bane belched and said,

"You still want it?" I gagged a little,

"Naw, that's ok. Ill just order another." Bane was still hungry somehow,

"Get me one too!" I sighed and told the little guy to whip up two more. Bane waited for me to get mine before snatching the bag this time. After I finished, we walked around, watching the SCV's repair buildings and equipment. I asked another SCV what was going on. He talked but didn't turn from his work,

"We were just hit by the zerg before you showed up. Barely stopped them this time too! If they come back in force like that again, we wont make it." I nodded, trying to keep up with the scooting SCV,

"No joke?" I said sarcastically. He laughed and kept working,

"Yep, zerglings, hydralisks, ultralisks-you name it!" We left the SCV to finishes his work and kept walking along behind the rows of bunkers and siege tanks. Bane sighed as he nervously sidled alongside the terrans that had to fight urges to turn and open fire on him.

"What do you Terrans do all day? This is boring." Bane asked me quietly.

"Just sit around and wait on the enemy, I suppose. I used to do a lot of front line action back when I was a marine but maybe being a ghost is safer-" Deafening blasts of the siege tanks interrupted me. We were between one of the bunkers when a carpet of zerglings flowed into our view. The siege tanks fired first, crushing the on-comers by the dozens. The marines let their gauss rifles rip and bullets sprayed from the bunkers. Zerglings kept falling, but there were just too many of them to stop at once. They were decimated when they made their charge but still a few, a little under half, made it in under the range of the siege tanks and assaulted the bunkers. The marines fired frantically out of the bunkers and firebats warmed up their packs. Flames spewed from the bunkers, bathing the ground and the zerglings in napalm. The zerglings were everywhere at once, and then gone just as quick. They were fast and did some damage to the bunkers and siege tanks even though they were stopped easily. SCVs scooted in and began welding and repairing rips and tears in the steel and cement, but they didn't get much time to finish as more enemies poured into view. Dozens of hydralisks, Bane was bigger than them all, slithered in from the distance. The Siege tanks arclite cannons cracked the still air again as they rained fire on the attackers. The hydralisks were much stronger than the zerglings and they took the pummeling siege tanks in stride. They moved up in rows to match the bunkers. I had to duck from the spray of needle spines that spewed from the crowd, making the marines gauss rifles look like toys. Siege tanks pummeled the lines again and finally, the hydralisks began to fall. But bunkers were going up in flames left and right and the siege tanks were straining to stay online. At last, with combined effort from the marines and the siege tanks, they were able to stop the tide of hydralisks as well. Bane didn't like it much. He kept wincing and looking away while the hydralisks and the marines battled. It was pretty gory, and it looked kinda painful for the hydralisks. More marines came and reinforced the bunkers while the SCVs repaired it al again. Just as everything started to quiet down again, gobs of green acid rained from the distance. We couldn't see our attackers, they were out of our site range, but they could see us. Comsats identified them as guardians. They moved from one bunker to another, attacking with impunity. Marines ran into the distance to engage the monsters, but they never returned. Then the SCVs came to try and slow down the destruction by repairing as the guardians destroyed. But in the end, the guardians were making slow progress, one bunker at a time. Siege tanks began to helplessly fall to the airborne bombers. Then finally, relief came. Four valkalrie frigates zoomed overhead and began blasting the pesky guardians with piles of missiles. The remaining marines whooped and yelled as the medics came to heal them. But victory seemed much less certain as scourge slammed into the valkalries and caused them to explode in midair. The guardians once again continued their attack against the bunkers.

"They'll never stop them like this," Bane sighed next to me. Marines and medics were running everywhere as the scvs desperately tried to slow the crushing damage the guardians caused. I looked to Bane,

"What could we possibly do?" Bane didn't even answer as he sidled between two bunkers and ran out into the battlefield. The guardians ignored him and continued to fire at the bunkers. Bane ran out below the guardians, blasted one with needle spines and immediately started running back to us. The Needles didn't do much damage at all but it was enough to get the attention of the guardians. Since Bane was the only one in range, they considered him the most likely threat and started focusing fire on him. Bane strafed left and right, the gobs of green acids pummeling the earth all around him. He made it back between the bunkers but he kept going with the guardians following closely on his heals. I was starting to wonder what Bane hoped to accomplish with this feat until fire blazed out of the remaining bunkers. Bane had led the guardians into the range of the marines' gauss rifles. The guardians, caught by surprise, turned again on the bunkers and things were heating up. I started moving further from the front line and Bane caught up with me,

"Your defenses will not hold, the zerg here are not finished yet." I looked back to see the remaining guardians and the marines in the bunkers battle it out. The high powered gauss rifles shredded half the airborne menaces before the bunkers finally collapsed. The marines who climbed out of the wreckage opened fire on the last flyers only to be singled out and crushed with the gobs of corrosive acid. Suddenly, there were no more defenders for the siege tanks. The tanks unsieged and began to retreat, but fell one at a time as they tried to escape. Then relief came in the form of a dozen shiny new goliath war-walkers that stomped in to engage the guardians. Hellfire missile packs streaked across the battlefield and the guardians exploded in showers of blood and gore on impact. The Terrans enjoyed a brief victory, but it had cost them most of their defenses. The line of bunkers was rubble, along with all the missile turrets and half the siege tanks. SCV's scooted out to rebuild bunkers and make what repairs they could to the devastated tank squad. The confidence of the army was fading fast. Orders were issued to begin evacuating the base. Dropship construction was started at the starports while the SCV's scrambled to get a makeshift front line ready to protect the evacuating survivors while they waited on the vessels. They gathered up what marines they could scrap together, about two dozen total. Me and Bane even took up positions behind the bunkers. "Job's finished!" Called the SCV's one after the other as they finished the bunkers. Most of the marines and firebats filed into the bunkers, but there wasn't enough room for about 8 of us. The SCV's had just started construction on two more bunkers when the crash of the siege tanks exploded around us. They crashed again as more zerglings came into range. They were crushed instantly, but more just kept pouring in. They charged in by the hundreds, we could see as they came into our view. The bunkers came ablaze with gauss rifle fire and the tanks blasted again. We were devastating the on comers, but they just didn't quit. Casualties meant nothing to them and killing one made the rest all the more aggressive. The ground and zerglings were pelted with bullets, but still some raced in under the range of the siege tanks to the bunkers. Bane and I defended the bunker we were closest to, firing at the wave of zerglings covering the bunkers and siege tanks. Siege tanks were torn and mangled to scrap metal by the ravaging brood of zerg. From the bunkers, the firebats roasted the zerglings by the dozen. But the protective buildings just kept taking damage until they started to burst into flames and corrode. I shouted an order to the marines around me,

"We got to help those marines escape from those bunkers! They'll give soon, and our guys'll need cover!" The marines closed formation on the bunkers and started blasting zerglings off the door and roof of each structure. Bane even fired at them with his spines, sending them spinning off the bunker, one at a time, to land torn in the dirt. The doors flew open and the marines and firebats ran out as we shot zerglings out of the air that dove at them from over the bunkers. We all ran backwards while firing when we could at the zergling horde. The zerg started ripping into the base and we moved to the back were the starports and the evacuation ships were waiting. The survivors had been evacuated and all that remained was us-the soldiers who defended them while they escaped. The zerglings were closing in on us as the dropships came into view ahead, hovering with the rear doors open, waiting for us. The quick zerglings started teaming up on marines and tackling them to the ground as they ran, cutting and stabbing them to death. Our numbers had thinned out by 6 or 7 guys before we made it to the drop ships. The most injured ones got on first as the best of us held off the zerglings with concentrated gauss fire. The numbers closed in and we started losing more marines. Even a few die-hard firebats were tackled to the ground and ripped to gory pieces. Me and Bane were at the door of one of the last dropships, firing at zerglings that tried to chase us up the ramp. The little beasts were everywhere, cutting us down by the pair.

"Time to go!" I yelled to Bane. We turned and ran into the ship, zerglings bounding at our heels. The door slid up with a clang the clawing and the scrapping of zerglings on the outside of the metal shell could be heard. The creatures screeched in outrage as the engines roared to life and the ship shuddered into the air. Below us, the horde of zerglings ravaged the buildings, leveling the base.

"Were are we going?" I asked a marine next to me. He was reloading his rifle and took a minute to answer me,

"To the fleets in orbit. The orbital station is our last stronghold against the zerg, but we lost contact with it a few hours ago." The dropship rocketed into orbit were a dark platform loomed out of the darkness. I could hear Bane grumbling all the way. Some marines asked what his problem was and he answered for himself,

"I hate dropships!" The vessel approached the station and the pilot maneuvered the back of the ship up to the airlock. It sealed around the rear of the ship with a hiss and the door slid open, but no brightly lit hallway and steel mesh floors greeted their eyes. Only a dark, broken corridor and a few glittering eyes shown through the darkness. Sparks showered from an electrical short in the ceiling, revealing a hungry zergling pack charging in for the kill. Bane raised his scythes for battle and the marines laid into their gauss rifles.

To be continued...


	3. Bane 3: Noble Sacrifice

The impaler rounds ricocheted and sparked down the corridor; Bane's needles blew small metal shrapnel out of the wall were they hit. The electrical short stopped and the hall was bathed in darkness again. The scratching sound of clawed feet on steel mesh floors drifted out of the shadows. The marines stopped firing and waited with their guns held at the ready, pointed out to the impeding darkness. We were packed in the ship, two by two, and the front two marines turned on their headlamps. The lights pierced the darkness, revealing an empty hall devastated with gauss fire.

"Where'd our little buddies go?" asked the front marine, waving his gun back and forth across the hall. Bane and I were behind them. We stepped out slowly as the Marines in front of us quietly advanced into the hall. Bane spoke up as soon as we stepped out,

"It's too quiet here, be on your guard." The marines around us jumped and turned, pointing their guns around. One yelled out,

"Who said that?!" Bane snarled lightly,

"It was me," he answered. They all jumped again, searching for the source of the voice. I recognized their confusion and gave them the answer,

"It was Bane here, He can't pronounce words so he speaks telepathically." The marines exchanged relieved, yet confused looks and just shrugged.

"He's right though," one said, "It IS a little too quiet for my liking." Then the squad leader spoke up,

"Quiet or not, there's been a disaster on this ship and there may still be survivors. We've gotta get to the primary command bridge and see if we can get power back to this floor."

We slowly eased down the hall, covering one another in case the zerg decided on a surprise attack, which they are known to do. Just as we turned the next corner, the zerglings came out of hiding. Suddenly, the thudding and scraping of claws and feet came from both in front of us and behind us. Everyone turned and shifted, trying to see were they would come from first. With a loud crash and wicked little snarls, the ceiling tile above my head fell away, and zerglings dropped out on top of me. I heard gauss rifles going off as the rest of the attackers came from both sides while everyone was distracted with the zerglings from the roof. A trio of the little monsters were on top of me, clawing and stabbing. The gauss rifle in my one hand was too long and bulky to get in a shot with. All I could do was roll around and hamper their attacks. Marines screamed and yelled as the numbers bore down on us. I saw, despite the screeching, clawing creatures that wrested me to the ground, a pair of marines go down under the weight of countless other zerglings. They kicked and yelled, like I was doing, as the zerglings stabbed their way through their power suits. I finally collapsed on my back and the lings went into a fury. They stabbed and punched at my armor; blood covered my hands as I pushed away their snapping jaws. Marines screamed and gurgled blood around me, and slowly stopped struggling against the fiends. The lings continued to hack at them even though they were helplessly injured. We were nearly over run when Bane came to the rescue.

"Hold still!" he told me hastily. I stopped fighting the zerglings and lay flat on my back. Then a deep snarl could heard and a two-foot scythe swooped over me like a golf club, swatting one zergling and sending it sailing against the wall. I saw the scythe swing by again, scattering the other two. Only one ling got up from Banes attack, backing warily into the darkness. I sat up and grabbed my gauss rifle while Bane stabbed and swatted at any zergling close enough. The remaining marines were in a panic, yelling and firing at anything with a carapace. The zerglings who killed the forward marines finished their terrible work and scrabbled over the torn bodies to attack us. The marines opened fire on the hall, spraying the advancing zerglings with multiple rounds. The first of the zerglings were instantly cut down, but their brethren trampled right over their fallen comrades and tackled more marines. I ran up and kicked a zergling off one while Bane did what he could to keep the bulk of the zerglings at bay behind us: chopping them from afar with needle spines and slashing the foolish ones that came close enough. I helped one marine up and we moved to help the remaining three, but we were too late. The creatures suddenly ignored them and came for us. Zerglings, by shier numbers alone, started to leak through Banes defenses and come for us; surrounding us on both sides. I was tackled to the ground; I had a faint recollection of the last marine falling with me under the weight of our enemies.

Then Bane was there again, sweeping the zerglings off us with one mighty swoop after another. The agile zerglings rebounded instantly and dove at the hydralisk. Bane lunged and flung his blades into the zerglings flight path, catching one with the point of a scythe, but the rest hit him in mid-leap, staggering him backwards. Bane stumbled back alittle, but kept his footing. With a raging growl, he slung them all off. Zerglings sailed and smacked the walls, a few got up, most of them didn't. With a deep-throated, rumbling growl, Bane roared his rage and wrath at the attackers. The remaining zergling squealed and whimpered, retreating quickly into the darkness once more. We hurried them along with a combination of guass fire and needle spines.

"Good job," I said as I helped the sole-surviving marine to his feet. He was pretty shaken up, but not badly injured. Luckily, the power suit had taken most of the abuse-it hung like scrap metal on him. We could hear, but not see, the zerglings scampering back down the hall, leaving their brethren in torn piles on the floor. Bane still held his scythes ready, facing the darkness. I bent down and picked up my gauss rifle again,

"You really showed them who's boss," I said. The silence crept in and all I could see was what the marine revealed by sweeping his power suits lights back and forth across the hall. Then the sound of zergling feet on mesh steel floated back up the hall to us. They sounded different somehow, the thudding accompanied by a dragging, almost slithering noise. Bane became tense, snarling low in his throat, "Do you know were to go?" he asked. I jammed a new clip into my gauss rifle, "Yeah, we gotta make it to the generator room; Can't get much done with the power out." The familiar, fierce roar of hydralisks rumbled down the hall to greet us.

"Run!" Bane growled as the marine's lights flashed across the faces of four hungry hydralisks and a fresh mob of zerglings.

"GO!!" Bane snapped at me. I shook my head and ran past my friend and the marine into the dark hall. Bane turned as I went by and sidled along beside me. The last marine turned to run, but he was just a little too slow. The hydralisks stopped abruptly and opened their chest cavities as the zerglings ran out ahead. They fired in unison and peppered the poor marine's back with spines. I heard him scream and turned around in time to see him trip and fall forward beneath the hail of needles.

"Common, there's no hope for him!" Bane stopped and called back to me. I became sick,

"No, we can still save him!" The fallen marine disappeared beneath the carpet of zerglings. Bane turned and continued down the hall. Unfortunately, he was right. I turned on the last marine and ran with Bane as the zerg continued the chase. The lights from the marine's headlamps disappeared behind the bulky frames of the pursuing hydralisks. It became extremely difficult to see were you where going without the lights from the marines suits. I started ping-ponging off the walls,

"Hey, I can't see!" I heard Bane sidling out in front of me,

"But I can, follow me," He called back. My ghost suit didn't have night vision but it had built-in inferred targeting. I flipped the goggles down and turned them on. My vision was filled with fields of blue, except for the living creatures around me. Their body heat caused them to glow bright reds and yellows in the goggles. Bane was easier to follow-at least I could see him.

"Where do we go?" He asked me as we ran.

"We need to make it to the generator circuit on this floor and get the power back on, then well take the supply elevator to where ever we need to go." Bane snorted as needle spines whistled by my ear, chipping the walls between us.

"Could you be a little more specific, we don't exactly have time to search for it!" I turned and backpedaled, firing my rifle at the red blobs shaped like hydralisks in my goggles. They shifted and dodged in the hall as they followed us, firing clumsily back when they could. It seemed they had a hard time shooting spines and running at the same time, their aim was miserably off. "It's the biggest door on this hall," I yelled up to Bane, "You cant miss it!" Bane stopped abruptly and rammed right through a door. Light flooded the hall from the room, powered by the emergency batteries. I jerked the goggles off my head and ducked into the room. I ran over to the control panel and flipped some switches, the round generator in the room hummed to life as it built up a charge to start the circuits on this floor. Outside we could hear the hydralisks catching up with us, the slithering sounds coming closer and closer. I picked up my gun and Bane opened his chest cavity. We aimed at the empty doorway and waited for them to fall into our trap.

"Aim for the augments, they're the only thing not armored," Bane told me. I aimed a little low, were the snake like muscle would be, slithering them along. Sure enough, they lumbered into the doorway and we opened fire, shredding the floor around them. They roared and danced on the bullets, the two on the sides ducked back into the hall. But the pair in the middle were stuck between the ones on the outside, and got hammered with shots. The impaler rounds from my gauss rifle tore through the sensitive augments like flat tires. The hydralisks crumpled to the floor, wailing in pain. We blasted them into the ground while they were down, but it took most of my gauss rifle clips and Bane was panting by the time they finally stopped snarling and twitching. We didn't get much of a rest because the other two hydras were on top of us as soon as the firing stopped. They lunged in the door, one after the other. Bane was ready and shoved the first one, knocking him back into his partner. The first one fell over the second and I let loose the last clip for my rifle, aiming for the delicate spot. The second one managed to jump free of the line of fire,lunging for Bane with its scythes. Bane threw his blades up and they locked blades, each dro afraid to let the other one go. I finished off the third hydralisk and wanted to help Bane, but there was no way to get some shots safely in-not with him so close to the enemy. They lunged and shoved each other around, smashing into walls and control panels. It was pretty easy to tell them apart, Bane was much bigger. They raged and snarled in each others faces, displaying their wrath. Bane gave one final, mighty shove and the blades unlocked with the harsh sliding sound of scythe on scythe. The hydralisk stumbled backwards and Bane blasted him with a round of his needles, sending it over on its back. Bane lunged in swinging, and landed on top of the other. The hydralisk tried its best to fight back, but Banes superior size and strength won out in the end. He was busy slashing away his enemy, who flailed its scythes around in meager little attempts to block the blows, when the zerglings caught up. Bane was in the doorway, and they went straight for him this time. About a dozen of the little beasts poured in the door, covering Bane the way ants cover a piece of candy. Bane was already low to the floor from killing the hydralisk, so the group had no trouble knocking him over. He went down snarling and swinging, managing to knock one away before he went fell. I blasted the one he repelled before it made it all the way back to the floor. He whipped his scythes around wildly, trying to escape the stabbing little terrors. I ran over and kicked the mass of zerglings, doing nothing but upsetting one of them into attacking me. It turned with hungry jaws and lunged for my throat. I side-stepped just in time to avoid its flashing claws. I turned as it landed across the room and pointed my rifle at it, pulling the trigger.

Click.

I flipped the gun over and gripped the barrel tight. The zergling turned and lunged again, ignorant to the fact that I was the home-run champ for my battalion. I eyed the zerglings flight path and when the time was right, I swung with all for all I was worth. I heard the crack of my rifle splitting in half, telling me that I hit my mark. The zergling made a whooshing noise as all the wind was knocked out of it as it beamed across the room like a missile. The zergling hit the wall with a crunching of bones and carapace. Then the zergling group started teaming up on Bane. A trio would hold down each scythe while the rest piled on top for the kill. Just when I was feeling totally helpless, the lings on top started rising up; as if Bane was growing beneath them. The tell-tale sound of Bane firing his spines could be heard and the zerglings on top began exploding. They splattered with shrill squeals, and the ones on his arms panicked and jumped on top to help their friends. As soon as they did, Bane was impaling them with his blades, until 9 of the original zerglings were reduced to twitching piles of broken carapace on the floor. I ran up and booted another and Bane managed to heave them off and stand up. As soon as they saw that Bane was up again, the remaining pair of lings turned and left the room, retreating back down the hall. I looked over and noticed Bane was in bad shape again: dozens of small puncture marks from the zerglings little teeth and scythes dotted his carapace. "Will you be okay?" I asked, studying his wounds.

"Ill live," he replied slowly. Just as he answered, the lights down the hall flickered on one at a time until the entire corridor was illuminated with a dull white light.

"Powers on," I exclaimed, "lets go!" Bane nodded and we stepped outside warily. I looked down the hall both ways. It was empty again.

"The supply elevator should be at the end of this hall," I started to explain but Bane stopped suddenly and closed his eyes. He remained very still and quiet until he spoke again,

"She's here," he said, "I thought I sensed her crooked will when we first arrived but I wasn't sure. Im positive of it now." His words confused me,

"Who is she? And what's the big deal about her?" Bane snorted and gave me a shove, rushing me down the hall as he explained,

"The queen of blades! Her evil will radiates through this vessel as we speak!" Bane was moving so fast I nearly stumbled trying to keep from being run over by him,

"You mean to tell me that the rumors about an infested women single-handedly dictating the swarms are true?" Bane didn't get a chance to answer because a deep roar rumbled down the hall to us as we came to the elevator. We whipped around to see another pair of hydralisks standing at the end of the hall. But there was something different about these hydralisks. They looked bigger and meaner; with bulky square shoulders and longer scythes. I realized with a twinge of fear that these were no ordinary hydralisks-they're hunter-killers.

"There's her escort-Lets Go," Bane shot at me. I punched the button for the elevator and the hunter killers snarled and started rampaging down the hall toward us. Bane watched the moving lights above the elevator door and growled impatiently,

"I hate machines," he repeated. With a 'Ping!' the elevator door slid open and we jumped inside. I mashed the button panel with my hand hastily; it didn't matter were we went as long as it was away from those monsters. Another 'Ping!' sounded and the elevator doors slid shut just as the Hunter-killers stopped to fire their needles. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the elevator lurch downwards beneath me.

"I was hoping you would tell it to go up," Bane said after a few seconds.

"Why's that?" I asked casually. Suddenly, a loud clang came from the roof of the elevator as if someone had dropped an oil drum on it. The elevator shuddered and screeched to a stop as the lights flickered off and on.

"Thats why," Bane answered. The steel mesh on the ceiling fell away as a thick, curved scythe stabbed through it, shattering the light in the middle. I pressed the emergency stop button and the doors slid open again. We were halfway between one floor and another and the floor between them was visible in the doorway. The scythe stabbed through again and ripped the first hole a little wider.

"This is my floor," Bane said, lunging to dodge the blade. The hydralisk could only fit through the top floor. I let Bane climb through first, but as soon as he made it out, the elevator lurched again-closing the gap between the floors. "Aaw, shit!" I said out-loud as I stepped out of the elevator. "Stand clear!" came Bane's muffled remark from the ceiling above me. I took a few extra steps away from the elevator as the Hunter-Killer smashed both scythes through the elevator roof and began peeling the metal away; forcing his way in. Just as the Hunter-Killer dropped into the elevator the lights inside it flickered and went out. I heard Bane snarl above and the elevator shuddered one last time. The hunter killer lunged for me but it only managed a clumsy stumble as Bane cut the elevator cables with his scythes. The elevator screeched and fell away into the dark shaft, taking the unfortunate hunter-Killer with it. It took nearly 18 seconds before we heard the crash of the elevator hitting the bottom of the shaft like a meteorite. An eerie silence took over. I held on to the wall and leaned as far as I dared into the elevator shaft and shouted up, "Bane! You okay?!" Bane snarled lightly somewhere above my head,

"Of course. What floor are you on?" I turned and looked around. Lighted labels above the doors indicated what each one led too. They said things like 'Starport Hanger',' Evacuation Bay' and 'Wraith launch Port 3'. I leaned back up and shouted up to Bane,

"It looks like the aircraft floor! Were are you?" Bane snarled some more as he answered,

"I can't read these scribbles!" I laughed and smacked my forehead for forgetting.

"What do you say to getting the hell outta here?" Bane sent down to me.

"Sounds good to me," I said.

"Since you're already on the right floor, go find us another ship and warm it up. I'll find a way down to you." I nodded and realized Bane couldn't see me and shouted up to him again,

"Okay!" I said and turned to jog to the nearest door when another message floated down to me,

"Charley," I gasped. It was the first time Bane had used my name. He continued,

"If I don't show up, take off without me."

"What?!" I yelled back.

"You heard me, Mortal! It is not safe here. If I don't return, leave me." A lump formed in my throat, hampering my voice, "But how will I know if you're not coming?" Bane's confident psionic voice broke into my mind once more, "You will know," I yelled back up to him, trying to protest, but he was gone. I turned and solemnly walked to the nearest door and punched the button to open it. I sighed and walked in, feeling an impending doom hanging just over my head.

Bane sidled down the hall ignoring, Charlies call behind him and frowned at the strange symbols and lines glowing above each door. He snarled irritably chose the closest one, impaling it and ripping it off the hinges. He sidled through into a huge room with dim lights glowing high on the ceiling above. He looked around, deciding that this room was not the one he wanted. Bane turned to leave when he spied a figure standing in the doorway. It had two legs and a pair of wicked arms that protruded in front of a set of scrawny wings. The head was a twisted mass of hair, centered on top of what used to be a human face. It's eyes glowed a dull yellow in the shadow. The figure stepped aside, letting something else in. The second figure was obviously the other hunter killer, its bulky frame and long scythes was outlined by the brighter light of the hallway. The hunter-killer stood still for a few seconds before sensing Kerrigan's will and lunging in to battle Bane. Bane fired needle spines as it moved in, but they bounced harmlessly off thick carapace. The hunter-killer dove at Bane with both scythes swinging. Bane dodged left and smashed the Hunter-killer in the back as it went by, sending it stumbling forward into a crate. The cargo shattered beneath the beast. The hunter-killer was up again in time to see Bane charging in, but it caught him in mid charge and their scythes locked. The combatants snarled and growled at each other, shoving one another around. Bane was just barely stronger than the Hunter-killer, slowly forcing it backwards. But the hunter-killer opened its chest cavity and blasted needles in Bane's face. The hydralisk fell back as the hunter killer swung its scythe wide. It came arced and smashed into Banes side, piercing the carapace and passing in all the way up the hunter-killer's arm. Bane wailed in pain and swung immediately thereafter in a uppercut that brought both his scythes through the throat of the Hunter-killer; the tips just breaking through the top of its head. Bane, impaled painfully by the dead hunter-killers scythe, fell with his enemy, blood gushing out of his lethal wound. Kerrigan walked leisurely over to the fallen warriors and cackled wickedly. Bane tore his blades free of the hunter-killer's throat and used them to force the scythe out of his body. Ever-so-slowly, the blade slid out and more blood gushed onto the floor.

"Well done, my pet! I couldn't have done better myself, except for the mortal wound part," Kerrigan said as she stared down at Bane. Growling with painful effort, Bane stood up and raised his bloody scythes for battle.

"Still got some fight left in you, huh? Let's see what you got," Kerrigan said, waving one hand-welcoming Bane's attack. Bane roared and swung his right scythe with everything he had. Kerrigan easily ducked the swing and Bane swung with his left. Kerrigan leaned back, the blade wiffing in front of her face, and Bane stumbled onto the floor with the momentum of his own swing, snarling in shame. Kerrigan put her pale hand to her face, a tiny cut was there from where she timed Bane's attack just a second off.

"My turn," Kerrigan sneered and bent down, grabbing one of Banes arms and slinging him over her shoulder into another crate. Bane hit the crate like a sack of dirt and lay in the floor until Kerrigan moved over to him and picked him up by the shoulders and lifted him off his augument. She laughed and crushed Bane against the floor, mopped him up and threw him from wall to wall until he snarled in pain. She picked him up again and held him against a hard vespene reservoir, blood seeping out steadily from the scythe wound. She laughed again and spoke out loud to him,

"Dear, simple Bane. How long did you think that you could possibly stray from my will? After all, you are my creation and thus bound by your genetics to follow my rule." Bane snarled weakly and managed a strained answer, "...I will die before I follow you...you kill innocent creatures and raid peaceful planets..you bitch...I despise you....." Kerrigan's smile leaked away, changing to an angry frown. She shoved him higher up against the tank and reared her arm back and began smashing the hydralisk across the face so hard his head moved from side to side with each blow. She finally stopped and her fake smile came back,

"You could have been one of my greatest cerebrates-leading the swarms to countless victories. But you have a flaw-you are weak. You refused destroy the Terrans on Tarsonis, you wouldn't even attack the Protoss as they came to foil my plans!" Bane choked and coughed, blood seeping down the sides of his mouth,

".I ..am not.. weak.....I am not one of your...mindless..pawns..and I'll destroy you...for making my..existence so miserable!" Kerrigan backhanded Bane again, blood flying across the room in a fine little spray. Bane opened his mouth and managed to spit in Kerrigans face. She shrieked with her scratchy, infested voice and smashed Bane against the wall once more, carapace and bones crunched out loud. Bane whimpered faintly.

"And how do you expect to accomplish such a feat, wounded and dying as you are now?" she said in a mocking tone. With his last strength, Bane reared one scythe forward and swung it backwards, smashing it into the steel hull of the giant vespene tank he was held against. Green gases spewed out and Bane swung again, coughing blood. Kerrigan's smile vanished and her eyes grew wide as she lunged to stop Bane's scythe, but she was too late...

I watched the idling dials and gauges impatiently when the dropship shuddered suddenly. I looked out the windshield and noticed that the whole hanger was rocking violently. Something was terribly wrong, and Bane still hadn't returned. He had said to leave without him, but I just couldn't bring myself to push in the throttle and abandon him here. An alarm started going off, and the fire siren in the hanger started going nuts. The shaking got worse and worse-the dropship practically bounced around. The hanger in front of me started to take on a red hue and I stuck my head out of the pilots window and looked behind the dropship. In the long corridor that leads to the hanger, a wall of flames raged through, consuming all the oxygen.

"I guess Bane was right when he said I would know," I said to myself and closed the window. I gassed the engines just as the firestorm engulfed the hanger and all the ships in it. I shot into a tunnel leading out. Super-heated by the launch chute, the flames raced just behind my dropship, causing severe turbulence. The engines strained and I jerked the control stick left and right, following the tunnel. Finally, with the flames licking the back cargo hatch, the black void of space loomed at the end of the tunnel. I zoomed through the opening and away from the installation. The alarm was still going off for a few seconds, until a deafening blast that sounded like a planet exploding nearly shattered my eardrums. The orbital platform exploded into a huge ball of fire and began sinking to the planet, its orbit around Tarsonis decaying. Watching the flaming wreck enter the atmosphere and burn into little pieces, the shock suddenly wore off and reality set in. Bane was dead, as far as I knew. My worst enemy turned best-friend was gone for good, consumed in the fiery explosion-and I never even got a chance at farewell...  
I collapsed over the control panel and covered my face with my arms-letting the unstoppable sorrow come, wondering if I would ever see my friend again.

To Be Continued...


	4. Bane 4: To Free a Hero

"Awaken my child, you are recalled to life," the ghostly message drifted through the fog, seeping into the void from the mortal world beyond.

"But father, my rest is so peaceful…I cannot bear to leave this shining place." The faded voice came again, stronger this time,

"Ah, but you must! You are an agent of the swarm, and therefore eternal," Again, he attempted to resist the call from beyond,

"Still I cannot, My flesh has failed me, father." It boomed through now, shattering the serenity of the void,

"Behold! It will be made anew-faster, stronger and more deadly that you might further aid my will."  
"What is so dire that you must uproot me from my happiness?" The Overmind's voice echoed through the void again,

"Although my will is unquestionable, I will tell you. Terrans have come to our home world and threatened my rebirth into the swarm. Even now they wander closer and closer to the place of my essence. You must not allow them to leave here alive!" Slowly, the comforting glow of the void faded into blackness and the harsh senses of the world leaked in...

"Third defense garrison, reporting in," I droned into my headset. I didn't want to join the killing again, but I was drafted into the militia. I had seen enough death on my short adventure with a truly unique hydralisk-I didn't want to be anywhere near a war after that. Whatever Bane did that day on the orbital platform saved our Terran hides. Some of my friends told me about it when I came back to the planet. They said that the orbital platform exploding was visible from the surface. Just as soon as it went up in flames, the zerg crushing our defenses suddenly stopped. The zerglings stopped in mid-charge, just standing there until our meager defenses mopped them up. Overlords and mutalisks dropped out of the sky like someone had hit a switch. It was a mystery to everyone but me. I knew what happened. Bane killed the queen of blades and her forces, without a leader, were scattered and broken. The dominion was positive that it was their stalwart defenders-not Bane's brave sacrifice, that stopped the zerg-I knew the truth. But orders are orders, and it was time to get back to business. Resources were running thin on Tarsonis and "This remote ash world may hold some value" as my commanding officer put it. I sighed and waited for our order to move out. We had arrived at the patrol point a half an hour ago and it was getting cramped waiting in the dropship with three marines and two goliaths. Finally, the message crackled into our headsets,

"Alright boys, head out and sweep the perimeter for hostiles. Sensors show zerg signals on the planet, so be careful" I shouldered my gauss rifle and pushed the button to open the cargo door. "Rodger that" I replied as the marines helped back the goliaths out of the dropship. The patrol started plainly enough, trudging along in the ash with the marines in front and the goliaths lumbering along behind. It was getting close to evening and we were finishing our rounds when the little hostile alarm on my arm started bleeping. I reached down to my forearm and hit the button on my power suit to shut the noisy thing off. I looked back to the goliath pilot,

"Wada we got, Slick" I asked into my headset. The goliath pilot rummaged around with the controls a minute before answering,

"Comsat identifies one bogey-20 yard radius"

"Alright" I said"Fan out and find this critter so we can get going. Don't go being a hero either-yell when you find something." The marines gave me nods and the goliaths trudged off. It wasn't even a minute into our search when a gargling scream exploded into our headsets. We all came back together at the source of the transmission and found Joe decapitated and crumpled in the dirt. I bent down and picked his dog tag out of the puddle of blood that spread around his body. "Damn" I said, staring down at the mess.

"Slick, radio command and tell em we have a situation in sector three thirty fi" I never got a chance to finish because the dirt I was standing on suddenly showered up around me. The earth heaved up beneath me and sent me sailing head over heels to land flat on my back, knocking the wind out of my lungs and my gun somewhere back behind me. Struggling to regain my breath, I could do nothing but sit and watch the terrible scene unfold before me. Some kind of dirty monster had launched itself out of a burrow and didn't hesitate a second attacking us, slashing with deadly blades. The marines couldn't squeeze off a shot before they were cut down instantly by a flash of scythes. The goliaths turned to fire when the beast, it resembled a hydralisk-I wasn't sure because of all the dirt that stuck to it, lunged in and tackled one of the goliaths to the ground and started wrenching its arms off. Slick yelled into his headset and let the twin auto cannons rip. The creature turned with servos and sparking cables hanging from its mouth and scythes just as the barrels wound up to speed. Fire blazed from the barrels, lighting the area around us with strobbing flashes. The bullets peppered the hydralisk, bouncing and sparking off its thick carapace. It stumbled back for just a second before snarling and charging in, despite the hail of bullets that chipped and ricocheted off its carapace. It impaled the goliath and ripped its scythes back out through the sides, splintering the metal body of the machine open. I finally got a gasp of air and crawled to my gun. The goliaths guns sparked and shorted out and the hydralisk smashed the cockpit open, devastating the pilot with its blades. I reached my rifle and stood up, blasting the hydralisk with impaler rounds. It dropped the tattered machine to the ground and turned on me. It sidled in faster than I could back up and I stumbled back against a boulder, smashing my head against hard rock. I screamed and fired my rifle for all I was worth, but the bullets didn't seem to phase the hydralisk-the shots just bounced off and he kept coming. The terrible beast reached me and swung one scythe forward for a stab at me. I tried to move at the last minute, but I was just a little too slow. The scythe caught me in the shoulder, impaling me painfully against the rock wall. I screamed and dropped my gun, my whole arm was pulsing in tight little waves of pain. The snarling hydralisk reared the other scythe back, ready to rip my head off with one final swing, but for just a second, our eyes met. I winced and screamed again; grabbing vainly at the thick scythe with my good arm as the beast's eyes narrowed-studying my face. I panted, staring back at the monster that was delaying my death. The scythe it had reared back to make the deadly blow eased forward again, pressing against the side of my face. He forced my head from one side to the other, staring into my eyes. Despite the pain, I grew silent in cold fear, waiting for it to rip my throat out, until a familiar voice pierced my mind,

"Charley" it asked faintly.

"W-W-What" I managed to stammer. The hydralisk's eyes grew red and wide and the voice came again, stronger this time,

"Is that you, mortal" I shook my head, not believing what I was seeing or hearing. It couldn't be, Bane was killed on that orbital platform. I winched from a sharp twinge of pain in my wounded shoulder,

"Bane" I finally gasped between my clenched teeth. The hydralisk pulled its free scythe back from my head and it's fierce snarling stopped abruptly,

"Oh shit! I didn't know it was you" It said to me suddenly.

"I'm SO sorry about this! I really didn't know it was you-all you Terrans look alike! You might still live, I don't think it broke any bones yet" He slowly started to ease the scythe in my shoulder back and my world exploded in spasms of pain. I yelled my lungs out and Bane held very still. My teeth even chattered with the pain, making it a challenge just to talk straight,

"God" I hissed between my teeth"Am I sure glad it's you"

"We gotta get this scythe out" he pleaded,

"try to hold still-I'll pull it out on the count of three" I nodded, but nearly started whimpering before he got to three. Then he jerked the blade out so fast my breath caught in my throat, making the world change colors before my eyes with the pain. My voice finally came back and I let the whole planet know how much anguish I was in. Bane winched and apologized repeatedly,

"I mean it, I truly didn't know it was you! How bad is it? I don't know much about Terran anatomy, except that it's very fragile." I leaned against the rock and let my body slide down the wall. I tore a piece off gauze from my field kit, clumsily wrapping it with one hand. Blood covered my shoulder and ran down my arm onto the ash. The wound was deep and wide, but, lukily for me, it was just a flesh wound. I still bled like a stuck pig and complained like a baby over the pain.

"You WILL live, won't you" Bane finally asked. I winced and tightened the gauss around my shoulder with my teeth and my good arm, tying it in a big knot over the wound. I gave one last tug on the cloth and it snapped tight against the gash, bringing a single tear to my eye. Blood started seeping through, so I wrapped the remainder of my gauss around it before finally looking up at the creature that claimed to be Bane. It stood watching me curiously, worry all over its face. "I really didn't mean it" he said again. I looked over at my fallen comrades for the first time, then back up at Bane,

"Why" I asked solemnly. Bane looked at the ground, nearly shrinking from shame,

"I couldn't help it, I wasn't in control. I was just following orders" he stammered.

"I'm truly sorry, Charley, if only I had known"

"Don't worry about it" I cut him off"I didn't know them very well, anyway. I just don't know how I'm going to explain what happened." Banes head drooped more.

"Hey" I said, trying my best to smile and cheer him up, despite the throbbing wound in my arm"How did you get off that station" I was curious, after all. Bane looked up abruptly, apparently glad I wasn't holding a grudge.

"I didn't" he reported.

"But how..." I started to ask before Bane held up one scythe and started the whole story; telling me how he ignored my pleas and continued into the vespene reactor room. He told in detail about his fight with the hunter-killer and then how he sacrificed himself to kill the queen of blades. I sat and listened to his tale in awe.

"But if you died in the explosion, how are you here now" Bane sighed before telling me,

"I was reincarnated by the overmind. He told me that terrans were threatening his rebirth and he commanded me to do what I did to your squad."

"Why did you obey him" I asked. Bane shrugged

"I don't have a choice. His will booms on and on, never ending until I complete his wishes. Eventually, it's like the overmind takes control of me, I cannot stop myself. I can barely keep control of my own actions and thoughts as it is."

"Really" I said,

"What is he telling you to do now" Bane grimaced, allowing the madness to flood in for just a second.

"It's telling me to slaughter you and finish the job" His answer surprised me,

"Wow" I said"Remind me never to ask his will again." Bane looked down at my shoulder, watching the blood seep through every bandage and strip of gauss tape I had.

"You really need to have that looked at" he told me"From past experience, I can tell you that scythe wounds usually don't stop bleeding." I nodded,

"You're right. A medic should heal this. Let's get back to my ship before I get delirious from blood-loss." I got up slowly, using my rifle for a cane. As I stood up, I noticed that I was even shorter than Bane than before. I stopped and took a closer look in the fading sunlight. Bane was definitely different: he was easily a foot taller and the carapace over his chest cavity and thick arms were bulging and bound with powerful muscles. He noticed my staring and asked,

"What"

"Damn, man! What have they been feeding you? You been working out or something" Bane only looked more confused.

"You got bigger, you're built like a tank" My friend realized what I was talking about and started moving again,

"Oh, yeah. I suppose the overmind made me more efficient for killing. It's the only advantage I've found that comes with being enslaved to the zerg." I hobbled along beside him, nurturing my bad arm,

"How do you know were my ship is" I asked. He answered me, but kept moving steadily,

"I saw you come in." Bane said as he slithered easily over the rocky trail I was stumbling on.

It was nearly dark before we reached the dropship, having to stop constantly so I could untangle my senses from the traffic jam of pain pulsing from my shoulder. The dull, boxy shape of the dropship was a welcome sight as we finally approached it. I sighed with relief as I felt the cold steel of the vessel's hull under my hand. I pressed the button for the cargo ramp and trudged up the steel grate when it came down, stopping half and motioning for Bane to follow me. He shook his head,

"Are you sure I won't get shot at this time" He asked. I gasped. I hadn't even thought of what to tell my commanding officer when he asked me why two marines and a pair of goliaths turned up missing under my command.

"That's right, we hafta' cook up some story or they'll have both our heads" We stood thoughtfully for nearly a half an hour before deciding that we would think better once we were in the air. I eased into the pilots seat and fumbled with the controls. The cargo ramp creaked in protest as the hydralisk heaved its bulky frame into the ship. I heard a sudden dull 'Clang!' and turned around to see Bane rubbing his head with one scythe. He ducked a little and negotiated the small doorway. I chuckled and started flipping switches, powering the ship up. The engines wound up to speed and the rear cargo door closed with a drone of electric motors and a metallic clang. The thrusters threw ash around the ship in a circle as it slowly heaved off the ground.

It was a short ride back home. As we approached the front line, I could tell something was amiss. The SCV's, marines and siege tanks were gone. All the major production buildings were gone-  
only a few scattered supply depos and addons remained. Control towers, covert ops, nuclear silos, and machine shops stood alone. The empty bunkers stood silently, somehow still seeming to guard the deserted base.

"Looks like everyone packed up and left" I said.

"That's good" Bane exclaimed"Now you won't have to explain anything, I guess." I laughed,

"And you won't get shot at, either." I brought the ship to a smooth, hovering stop between a pair of supply depos and an abandoned missile silo. After opening the cargo hatch and walking out behind Bane, I gasped; the base looked like everyone just dropped what they were doing and took off. Gauss rifles, canister rifles and even a few of the medics Tissue Regeneration Accelerators were laying around. I walked over to one of the medic's TRA's and picked it up out of the ash"Just what I need" I said and checked the power supply. 14 points of energy remained-not enough for a full recovery but a band-aid would suffice once this little puppy did it's work. My friend slithered up to see what I found,

"Those things" said Bane, remembering the medic that healed him"Are the only machines I like." I activated the TRA and awkwardly pointed it backwards at myself. Its little gamma reactor started and a soft white light strobbed over me. I watched in amazement, no matter how many times I've seen it done, as the wound stopped bleeding and the skin grew back over it like magic. "Machines" Bane sighed"What would you Terrans do without them" I laughed and pulled the useless gauss and tape off my shoulder,

"Let's go see what they left us with" I suggested.

"Good idea" Bane said, obviously excited"I haven't had a decent meal since those things you got me from the other supply depo" I started walking toward a the buildings and Bane followed closely behind,

"Really?" I asked, "What have you been eating all this time" Bane shivered with memory,

"You don't want to know"

"I'll take your word for it" I said as I reached out and turned the latch on the door.

"Damn" I swore"It's locked" Bane pushed me aside,

"Allow me." I smiled and watched Bane test his improved size and strength on the steel structure. He didn't impale it, as I expected. Instead, he just lazily smashed the door off its hinges, taking part of the wall with it. To this day, I still believe that I saw the supply depo lurch over a few inches with the impact.

"If being an agent of the swarm doesn't work out for you, you could definitely make a good locksmith" I snickered as I walked past the grinning hydralisk into the supply depo through the giant hole that now served as the entrance. I flipped a circuit breaker that still hung out of the wall by its wiring and the lights flickered on.

"I don't get it" Bane said, sidling in behind me.

"Nevermind" I said, chuckling again"Didn't you say you're hungry" Bane nodded his head vigorously, so I found the crate of frozen, military issue hamburger patties out of the fusion locker and fired up the photon cooker. It's flat surface started glowing red hot and I picked up the crate of hamburger and turned to Bane,

"How many do you want" I asked. He gave me a bored look and reached out delicately with the point of one scythe and tipped the box over in my hands, spilling the whole crate,50 patties, on the photon cooker.

"That's enough" he said finally, studying the pile of frozen hamburger sizzling on the hot plate. I groaned and pulled out the biggest spatula we had. Bane only stood silently, drooling patiently while waiting for the patties to thaw. Doing what I could to flip the giant heap with a flimsy plastic spatula, I confessed something to Bane,

"Yaknow" I said"I never got a chance to thank you" Bane let a big drop of saliva run down his jaw and fall to the floor.

"Thank me for what" He asked. I pried the burger loose from the hotplate before answering"For everything-Thank you for fighting for me and defending me all the time. Thank you for springing me from the prison ship, and thanks for being the best friend I've ever had. Seriously, if there's anything I can give to repay you, let me know." Bane sighed,

"That's flattering, really, but what I want is something that is not yours to give." I raised an eyebrow in question. Bane continued,

"I wish to be free; free from the mad will of the cerebrates and the overmind, free from the killing and mindless slaughter, freedom from the overmind's blasted covenant. Immortality is not all it's cracked up to be." I thought for a moment before saying:

"It may not be mine to give you your freedom, but what's to stop me from taking it for you" Bane shrugged, staring at the burger.

"It's starting to burn on that side" he said offhandedly, stabbing the blob with one blade-point and turning it over.

"Do you think you can handle the cooking" I asked,

"I've got some things to take care of." I didn't wait for an answer, turning and leaving the room quickly. I moved down the hall and back out through the other door, toward the abandoned covert ops. Finding the door to this building wasn't locked, I walked inside. I moved to a familiar door and entered my access code into the little number panel next to it. The door slid open with a hiss and I turned on the light. On either side of the room, ghost equipment lined the shelves. I picked up a new cloak generator, two C-10 canister rifles with laser targeting, a box of C-10 canisters and as many concussion grenades as I could carry. I found a pack and jammed the ammo inside. Then, slinging the rifles and the pack over my shoulder, I left the covert ops and moved to the machine shop. It was shut down too, and it took me awhile to find the right power breaker. When I got the lights on, I fished up the keys to an upgraded vulture someone was souping up in the garage. The hover-bike rumbled to life in the still twilight, carrying me down through the base to my last stop: The nuclear silo. According to the access terminal outside, the Nuke was still operational and waiting for launch, despite not being connected to a command center. I checked my supplies one last time and throttled the vulture up, shooting out of the base in the direction I hoped the overmind lay dormant.

"This one's for you, Bane" I thought as I gassed the vulture away from the base.

The pinkish brown stuff smelled delicious as Bane turned it over and over on the photon cooker. "That mortal sure has been gone awhile" he thought, chopping the heap into three big chunks. He stabbed the first one and jammed it on his mouth, slobbering drool. Bane was chewing happily, tasting the processed meat, when the overmind finally crashed into his brain.

"FOOL" it cried"YOU HAVE DARED TO DEFY MY WILL"

"No..." Bane said to the voices"I won't do it! I won't kill my friend! You nearly made me do it last time-I refuse to be fooled again" The voices took on malevolent tones, shattering the hydralisk's concentration,

"Defiant one, you WILL slaughter the inferior human before he causes any more damage" Bane dropped the second chunk of hamburger, struggling to maintain control, but the voices flooded in, saturating his essence; tearing it away,

"You will destroy the Terran that comes now to harm me...You will destroy him...you will...you will..." The hydralisk's eyes glazed over, its mind no longer in control of its body. Bane shifted, snarling uncontrollably. Then, he charged involuntarily, smashing the photon cooker over and toppling a freezer. When he reached the wall, he stabbed his scythes through and peeled the metal back, forcing his way out. Once outside, the hydralisk slithered away at top speed, following the scent of the vultures exhaust.

I sped along the gloomy trail, following the slim extent of my psionic senses and the radar screen, until I came to a large, rocky hill. I jumped off the vulture and grabbed the two canister rifles and my old guass rifle from the compartment under the seat. Then I clambered my way up the hill and peeked over the edge. There it was, The Overmind's cacoon, right were I thought it would be. Most fortunately, it wasn't fully developed and therefore, couldn't control or rebuild the swarms yet-only it's cerebrates were reborn and under its power. Three of the fat, slimy, worm-things and a pair of lone sunken colonies guarded the overmind while it regenerated. I picked up one of the canister rifles and propped it up on some rocks, then I bent down and took a peek through the scope. The overmind was centered in the cross hairs so I flipped up the plastic cover in front of the primary trigger and pressed the switch forward. A red laser beamed down and stopped on the overmind, barely visible. In a few seconds, the electronic adjutant from the nuclear silo crackled into my headset:

"Nuclear Launch Detected" I laughed and said,

"No shit" under my breath. Just as I turned to leave, I spied Bane sidling into view. I smiled, even though he was about to ruin his own surprise, and I waved one arm in salute. My smile ebbed somewhat as Bane ignored my gesture and kept up the pace, coming right for me. "Hey" I called out, thinking that maybe he didn't see me. My grin vanished completely when Bane reached the bottom of the hill. My vulture was between him and the hill and Bane didn't even slow down for it. He Sped up in fact, lifting both scythes high over his head and bringing them down hard on the idling hover-bike, smashing it in half. The vulture exploded in a ball of fire and Bane leapt through it, charging up the hill towards me.

"Bane" I yelled wearily. Something didn't seem right, my friend seemed hollow, almost like he wasn't really there. But he was, and he let me know by stopping halfway up the hill and opening his chest cavity. I still didn't believe what I was seeing until Bane started firing. Needles whistled by my head and one bounced off a boulder behind me,

"Oh Shit" I swore, jumping behind the boulder and out of the line of fire. I looked back around, this is what Bane was waiting for, and the hydralisk fired a spread of needles just in time. Most of them chipped off the rock and bounced away, but one big one hit its mark, gouging into my bad shoulder. I yelled and grabbed the protruding needle as the old pain from being impaled came back all over again. With a groan, I bent down, grabbing the gauss rifle,

"Alright" I said through gritted teeth"You want a fight, you got one" Peeking around the rock, I found Bane moving up the hill, coming to finish me off. I flipped around the rock and blasted away with the gauss rifle. Bane looked up, as if not expecting the attack, and got pummeled with the spray of bullets that flew down the hill to meet him. The bullets bounced and sparked off his carapace, doing no more than scratching the surface. Barely hampered by the shots, Bane opened his chest cavity again, blasting more needles up the hill. I ducked just in time and dropped the useless gauss rifle, grabbing the C-10 on my way back up. I yelled to my friend over the rock I was hiding behind,

"Common, Bane! I don't want to do this" He responded by blasting the rock around me with more needles. I stood up abruptly and whipped the Canister rifle up, loaded with the high velocity concussion grenades. Bane was nearly on top of me when I finally got him in my gun sights. He was only a couple yards away; I could see the twisted expression on his face that it was so close, when I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. The gun recoiled violently with a resounding "Thwump" and everything seemed to stop. The grenade flew in an arc just as Bane raised his scythes for one final lunge. The grenade caught him squarely in the chest and exploded, engulfing him in ripping flames. The impact knocked me off my feet and Bane was sent toppling over backwards, tumbling back down the rocky hillside. My vision faded back in and I found the back of my head bleeding somehow and all I could tell was that I was on my back, leaning against that boulder. Then, I remember hearing the click of the laser on the spotting canister rifle shutting off as it blinked out. I was just starting to wonder what happened to my poor friend when he slowly crested my little platform on the hill. The hydralisk was bleeding all over and smoldering, snarling angrily. He sidled up to me and raised one scythe high, ready to end my life when the world blew up. Blinding white light flashed behind me, filling the sky, and a shockwave punished the hill. The last thing I saw was Bane being blown against the ground in the explosion and then everything went black.

I came to and ash was raining down, the nuclear fallout falling just short of us. My vision sharpened and my mind started working again. Bane was leaning against a rock in front of me, his carapace charred and bleeding from the grenade. My head hurt so bad, I didn't have the energy to move. Bane shifted in front of me and growled faintly,

"...Oh good...you're still alive..I thought I might have killed you by now."

"What happened" I asked him drearily. He sat up a little more against the rock,

"It was the overmind...my apologies, Charley,..there was nothing I could do to stop myself." I nodded,

"I figured that's what happened" Bane snarled lightly,

"Thank you, mortal one" I tried to ease onto my feet but failed and fell back down.

"For what" I said. Bane pulled himself up with his scythes before answering"For freeing me...I didn't even know what freedom feels like...they don't make words to describe it" I chuckled,

"It was no sweat! A pieca' cake, really; compared to what you went through." Bane limped over to me and offered me a scythe,

"I must also thank you for that" he said.

"What's that" I asked as I grabbed the blunt edge of the outstretched blade and he effortlessly hoisted me to my feet.

"Thanks for stopping me-if you didn't fight back, you would be long dead by now." I laughed, but then groaned when I moved my bad arm too much,

"Then maybe I should shoot you with grenade launchers more often, since you like it so much" If the hydralisk were capable of it, I believe it would have grinned as it retaliated,

"Don't get used to it, mortal" We trecked down the hill slowly, taking careful steps as not to jar our wounds. We walked past the devastated vulture and I said,

"Man! I liked that bike! Why'd you go and do that for" Bane kept up a limping pace beside me"Hey! It's not my fault you parked it right in the way" I tried to give Bane a shove with my good arm, or really I shoved myself backwards. He retaliated again by knocking me off my feet with the flat edge of one scythe. He turned around as I hit the dirt, gracing me with his wicked version of a verbal laugh before helping me back up.

"Were do we go now" my friend asked, as we started the long walk back to base,

"That" I said proudly"Is entirely up to you-Today, I set you free"

To Be Continued...

The Hive: Starcraft Resource Site  
Home of the Hydro  
http:illsmokum. 


	5. Bane 5: The Rebels of Char

Bane moved silently over the charred ash, nothing more than an uneasy feeling to the Ragnasaur that he stalked. The Ragnasaur hadn't spotted Bane, yet, as he eased closer and closer; hiding behind the remains of Char's scraggly trees and stubby boulders. The Ragnasaur lowered its head again and continued lumbering alone its aimless path, satisfied that all was well. There was a slight crunching of rocks and gravel, causing the Ragnasaur to stop again and look around with its poor vision. Bane held perfectly still, not even breathing. Finally, the Ragnasaur started moving and that's when Bane lunged on his prey...

I frowned at the pile of empty crates stacked up by the photon cooker, and let my mind drift. We still had plenty of supplies to last until someone found us, but it was in our best interest if Bane hunted for himself. He could go through a whole crate of burger patties like it's nobodies business. Waiting for my single burger to cook, I sighed,

"This sure is boring," I said to myself, "I hope some rescue shows up soon." The disappearance of the base and all its inhabitants remained a mystery. The lone dropship I had barely had enough fuel cells to leave the ground, much less break orbit. It would be useless and dangerous to try and take off with it, so we had no other alternative than to sit around and wait on some form of rescue. The smell of burnt meat brought me back from my own thoughts.

"Damn!" I swore and attempted to pry the broiled burger from the hot plate. Suddenly, I heard clips locking and guns clicking behind me. A cold barrel pressed against my back and an unfamiliar voice said, "Don't even blink!"

I slowly lifted my hands up in surrender and shot a look at my canister rifle across the room. Too far, there was no way to reach it and live to tell about it. The hostile voice spoke again,

"I thought we had cleaned this base out last time, but I guess we missed you."

"What have you done with everyone?" I asked over my shoulder. The assaulter jabbed my back with the barrel of another canister rifle,

"I'll ask the questions here!" I could hear other men laughing and snickering behind me.

"Where's your zerg buddy?" the voice demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied.

"I think you know more than that, my friend," he said through gritted teeth. "Seriously," I stammered, trying to buy time,

"I haven't the slightest idea-"

"I'm only gonna ask you one more time, boy!" he interrupted me and the barrel moved from my back to the back of my head.

"Where's the hydralisk!" I kept still and quiet, refusing to answer his question. After a few seconds, the assassin loosed an exasperated sigh and said,

"Damnit! This punk's not talking either! Take him back to base with the others." I heard some one walk up behind me and the barrel moved away. Then someone smashed the back of my head with the stock of a gun and my world went black.

Two marines holstered their rifles and dragged Charley away to the waiting dropship. The leader called to the remaining marines, getting their attention,

"Alright, we can still catch him!" he looked to his right, where a ghost stood and listened to his orders,

"Blake, you saw him leave here didn't you?" The ghost nodded, his voice sounding muffled behind his mask,

"Yessur! Left here an hour ago heading due east." The commander nodded in agreement,

"Then its settled! I'll escort the new prisoner back to base and wait for you there. The rest of you will stay here and set up a perimeter." The commander turned to leave, stopped and added,

"Remember-Don't kill em! We need him alive or our mission here is shot. Shoot to stun only!" Without so much as another word, the commander gave the marines a quick salute and stepped aboard the dropship.

"Now that," Bane interrupted himself with his own belch, "Is a REAL meal!" Nothing remained of the unlucky Ragnasaur except for a bloody mess where it was killed. Bane got up from his seat, grunting slightly because he was stuffed with Ragnasaur. The hydralisk started his slow slither back to base, thinking to himself, "Not as good as those burger things-Buurp!-but still pretty good." His joints loosened up and he managed a brisker pace. Before long, the lone missile turret on the outskirts of the base came into view. But as Bane got closer and sidled into town, he realized something wasn't right. He reached the supply depo and slithered wearily in the door.

"That's strange," Bane said to himself, noticing Charlie's canister rifle still on the counter and no Charley to be found, "That mortal never strays far from his machines-something's wrong!" Getting worried, Bane turned to leave and start a search outside, but he was attacked at the doorway. As soon as he stepped into the door jam, he was riddled with bullets from a squad of 6 marines that had lined up outside. The shots bounced of his carapace but sent him stumbling backwards into the supply depo. He was shot all the way back into the kitchen where he toppled over onto the crates, smashing them to pieces. The marines stopped firing and slowly began to creep inside the depo after Bane, covering each other with their rifles. The one up front waved his gun back and forth and smirked. He turned around to the squad leader and said,

"Heh heh, that was easy!" Blake gave him a shove forward,

"Were not done yet, cerebrates are not defeated so quickly." The marines paced their way into the kitchen were Bane had disappeared.

"But I thought we weren't supposed to kill em," another marine said. Blake moved to inspect the pile of broken crates,

"We'll blow his arms off so long as he's still breathing when we haul em back! Now keep your eyes open!" One marine stood next to Blake and looked up to the ceiling, spying a tile that was torn away and missing.

"Hey!" he said to his teammates, pointing up to the ceiling, "I think he's in the roof!" he whispered. They all shone their flashlights through the hole, revealing nothing but pipes, rafters and wires with their sweeping lights. The squad leader gestured to everyone else, motioning for them to aim at the ceiling. He whispered a quick "1-2-3!" and they let the rifles rip. The room strobed with the flaring barrels and the roof tiles showered down in pieces. A bullet struck a cable just right, and sparks spewed down, illuminating the chaos for a few seconds. Soon, the guns stopped one by one as the ammunition ran out. Dust and bits of plaster rained down as the marines reloaded their rifles.

"Did we get em?" one marine asked out loud.

"No! You missed!" Bane told them as he burst out his hiding spot in cooler behind one marine. Bane lunged with his scythes, impaling the closest Marine and lifting him off his feet. The remaining marines turned and opened fire. The bullets sparked and ricocheted off Banes carapace, and he shifted sideways, using the dying marine as a shield. The moaning marine screamed as he was killed by his own teammates.

"Hold your fire!" Blake yelled over the noise and Bane heaved the marine across the room. The marine smashed into his comrades and they all fell like a bunch of bowling pins.

"Get off me you moron, he's getting away!" Blake yelled and shoved his way out of the dog pile of power suits. Bane was already out the door and on his way across the base by the time the group finally reached the door.

"He's gone, Boss! We'll never catch him now," one marine said.

"Watch and learn, boy," Blake said as he loaded a special round into his canister rifle. He whipped his gun up and propped it on his arm, taking careful aim. With a "thwump!" the canister rifle shot what looked like a giant ball of lint across the battlefield. Just as it reached Bane it blew open, spreading into a net. The thick net wrapped around Bane and he tripped and fell into the ash, fighting the net.

"We'll never catch him now, Boss!" Blake mimicked the marine in a sarcastic voice and the team walked across the base were the pile of nets lay.

"Hey Jim, go warm up the dropship-we'll be there in just a sec," Blake said, staring down at the trapped hydralisk. Jim turned and ran back to the dropship hidden behind the Comsat station, following orders.

"Hey," one of the marines said to Blake, "I thought he was bigger than this," he said, pointing down to the net. Blake shrugged his shoulders and carefully lifted the net up. There was nothing but a circle of freshly churned ash underneath.

"What the! What's with all the disappearing acts?" One marine complained.

"I'm still here," Bane told them. The terrans jumped and turned, trying to see were the hydralisk would come from next. Just when the squad was about to move on, dirt and ash showered up between them. Bane had burrowed and come up with both scythes ready, and cut down two marines before they even knew what hit them. They fell, screaming in pain as the remaining marine and Blake opened fire. The last marine managed a few shots before Bane impaled his face, ripping the skull off the spinal cord. Blake turned and ran, dropping his gun in the dirt so he could pick up more speed. The coward didn't get far before Bane opened his chest cavity and bucked his fleeing enemy down with several needles. the hydralisk slithered up to the fallen ghost and said,

"What was that about a dropship?" Blake coughed blood and turned over on his back,

"Get away from me you fucking monster!" Bane held the tip of one scythe at the ghost's throat,

"Tell me were your ship is and I may just forgive you for that and let you live," Blake coughed more blood up before answering,

"

It's behind the Comsat station...now just let me die in peace!" Bane showed his wicked hydralisk grin before saying, "Thanks!" Then, with one quick motion, he cut his enemies throat out, killing the ghost instantly.

"I lied," he said, chuckling to himself as he sidled toward the Comsat station. There it was, right were the ghost said it would be. The dropship was hovering a few inches off the ground with the cargo ramp down. Bane eased up to the edge of the ship and peeked in. There was that marine the ghost sent for the ship, sitting in the pilot's seat and bobbing his head to some kind of load music blaring in a set of headphones. Bane sidled easily up behind the marine and swung one scythe over him, impaling him against the pilot's seat. The marine screamed and grabbed the scythe, then let go, groaning in pain. Bane reached around the marine and held his other scythe against the marines throat, snarling menacingly,

"WERE'S CHARLEY!" he demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" the marine yelled between rasping breaths.

"Something tells me that you better start flying this heap, capiche'?" Bane said as he held his razor sharp scythe tighter against the marine's throat.

"I'll die before I listen to you!" he cried. Bane sighed and gave the other scythe a slight twist. The marine screamed and yelled, the scythe that impaled him rubbing against bones as Bane twisted it.

"OKAY! OKAY!" he wailed, "I'll take you were ever you want to go!" Bane stopped twisting the scythe and said,

"That's better! Now, get moving or I'll show you what REAL pain is like." The marine moved a bloody hand to the control panel and pressed a few buttons. The cargo ramp swung closed and the engines wound up.

I came to in a large holding cell in the middle of a makeshift base. The marines who captured me wore the same color armor and insignias as all the ones walking around our cell and through the base. All the equipment they had looked as if it were dug out of a salvage yard, rusting away and falling apart. As my vision cleared, I noticed that most of the buildings belonged to my base. These second rate marines had taken control of our base and everyone in it. The disappearance of the base and all the people was no longer a mystery. Half the base was crammed into the cell with me; there was barely room enough for us to move around without knocking each other over. The other half resided in another cell identical to mine right next to us. The cages had plate steel for floors and a roof and thick bars spaced about 8 inches apart for walls. Our cages were wedged in between a row of supply depos and a run down academy. I held my head and groaned from the pounding migraine I had developed somehow. As I just so happens, my captain was in the cell with me.

"Hey, Cap!" I called. He shoved his way through the mass of bodies to me,

"Were you been, boy? We coulda used your help!"

"What happened?" I asked.

"Dirty cowards took a couple bunkers full of marines hostage and we had no choice but to follow their demands. They unarmed us and brought us back here via dropship. From what I've overheard, these bastards are Rebels. They don't have nearly the fleet it would take to make any real threat against the dominion, so they plan to create another force." My eyes grew wide,

"The zerg!" I guessed. The captain nodded his head,

"Yep, they were planning to take control of the new overmind the way the UED did some years back. But someone beat them to it and blew it to smithereens," I rubbed the back of my neck, pretending it was news to me,

"Wow! But how do they plan to take control now that the overmind is gone?" The captain rubbed his chin thoughtfully before answering,

"From what I know from the UED Histories, The overmind they took was reincarnated by the melding of its cerebrates. I guess they plan to meld the overmind's remaining cerebrates and take control that way." I nodded my head.

"By the way, Daniels," he said. I cringed involuntarily-I hate that last name. "What happened to the rest of your squad? I sent a pack of marines and two goliaths out there! Where are they now?"

"Eeeer, Ummm," I said, buying time while I thought. If I told him what really happened, Bane's days are numbered. Remembering the rebels, I got an idea.

"Oh yes! The squad! It was so bad I didn't want to recall it," The captain raised and eyebrow in question,

"We were just finishing our rounds and heading back to base when we ran into some of those rebels!" I lied, "We fought bravely, but we were outnumbered. The marines charged out in front and the goliaths engaged the siege tanks, even though I told them it was useless. I charged in with em though, and they captured me. The others wouldn't be caught so they...you know.."

"The damn dirty rebels!" The captain exploded. "I would like nothing more than to get a gun and blast a few dozen, just for killing one marine!" The rebels walking around our cage sneered when he said that.

"You may just get your chance," I said, leaning against the bars of the cage.

"What do you mean?" He asked me.

"I have a friend I left at the base, and I think he may show up anytime now for a dramatic rescue." The captain moved to lean against the bars next to me,

"Who?" he asked quietly, as to not get the guard's attention.

"Just a friend, you wouldn't believe me if I told you, anyway." He sighed,

"Kid, I hope you're right. But who could get past this defense single handedly?" I looked around at the extensive front lines set up with our own resources. New bunkers, siege tanks and missile turrets surrounded us on all sides,

"If it can be done," I said grimly, "he is the only one who can." Someone burst out of the command center, running up to someone important looking, who stood and watched the proceeds. We all watched as he talked to the messenger frantically, apparently quite happy about something. The commander dismissed him and called the attention of everyone around him. They came and he repeated the message. They all lifted their guns in the air and cheered, celebrating some kind of victory.

The dropship wavered a little as the marines grip on the control stick loosened,

"You are taking me were I want to go aren't you!" Bane demanded his hostage. The marine was breathing heavily and kept coughing blood on the dash board. He panted and held his breath before answering,

"Of course! Why resist now...I'm gonna die anyway.." The radio started spewing static and a transmission came in,

"Cater two, this is ring leader. Do you have the cargo? Over," it crackled. Bane held his scythe against the marines throat again,

"Answer them!" he demanded. The marine reached a shaking hand to the radio and flipped a switch. The static stopped and he cleared his throat as best he could,

"Rodger that ring leader, package intact...We are coming in hot, clear the path," He flipped the switch back down and the static came back,

"Copy that cater two, we'll open the door for you. Good job!" The base came into view ahead, the turrets and bunkers visible on the horizon. Suddenly, the ship shuddered.

"Keep this contraption still, would you?" Bane told his prisoner. The marine groaned, his voice becoming raspy and strained,

"I...can't...help..it..feeling... light-headed.." Bane looked down at the giant red puddle on the floor,

"Blast! Not now! Anytime but now!" The marine had lost a critical amount of blood and was bleeding to death. The marine moaned and panted, growing quieter all the time until his panting stopped abruptly.

"Hey you! I didn't say you could die yet!" Bane boomed at the marine. He made a strained sound like "...Uuughnn..." and slumped forward against the dash board. His hand dropped from the controls and his eyes rolled back in his head. He was gone. Bane jerked his scythe loose and the marine crumpled out of the seat onto the floor. Bane watched through the windshield as the base took on detail. Somehow, the dropship stayed fairly level until it passed over the line of bunkers. The marines far below whistled and cheered up at him. Then the dropship started shuddering and began a slow dive. The dive grew steeper and steeper until the ship seemed to drop out of the sky. Bane stabbed his scythes into the walls for a brace as the ground and buildings grew and filled his view. He barely missed a barracks. It zoomed by in a matter of seconds-he had to be traveling at top speed. "I hate machines..." Bane moaned to himself as he closed his eyes just before the ground meet the nose of the ship.

"What's going on?" I asked the guard, who was slapping hands with other guards around him. He was in such a good mood, he told me,

"Not that it makes a difference to you, but the last cerebrate is on the way! They captured em!"

"So much for a dramatic rescue," sighed the captain. The base exploded in an uproar of cheers and we all turned to see what was happening. Apparently, the last cerebrate was arriving via dropship. After straining my eyes for a few seconds, I could see it. It scooted over the bunkers and the marines cheered as it went overhead. The cheers started to ebb into murmurs of confusion as the ship started swerving around in the air. Just when it looked like it was going to just keep flying right by us, the ship nosed down into a dangerous dive. The people in the base still didn't believe what they were seeing until the dropship flashed by a barracks, nearly hitting it. I watched as the dropship plummeted towards us. It nosed up for just a second; 30 feet off the ground then fell like a rock. It smashed the ground and dirt showered up before it as it skipped off the ash. The engines died and the wings tore off as it hit again, harder this time, and started rolling. The guards around our cage ran as the ship rolled right past us, finally smashing to a stop on a supply depo. When the dust cleared, the dropship could be seen as a smoking wreck, pieces of metal and shrapnel from the supply depo and the ship all over the place. A squad of marines moved in to inspect the wreck. The dropship was nearly in pieces, crumpled into a ball that distorted its sleek shape. An SCV came with his fusion cutter, ready to cut the mangled door off the hinges. Just as soon as the SCV reached the ship, the hatch exploded off the rear of the ship, smashing the SCV. The marines ran up to help their friend when Bane lunged out of the ship. They turned, aiming their gauss rifles, but it was too late. Bane reached the group and swatted a marine out of his way, sending him sailing to land hard on his back. He lunged for another one and the marines opened fire. Bane snarled as he was caught in a brief firefight, but he was so close to the marines that they actually shot each other just as much as they shot him. A pair of marines fell from their comrade's bullets and Bane cut another one down in the chaos. The last marine dropped his gun and took off, leaving his friends to die. Bane looked over and noticed me and the rest of the base locked in our holding cells. He sidled up to the cage I was in and the trained marines and stalwart siege tanks operators backed as far away as they could from the door, gasping at the sight of a ten foot hydralisk. I pushed my way through the crowd and said,

"It's about time you showed up," Bane chopped the padlock off the cage

"That's thing's gonna save us!" the captain croaked, "A hydralisk!"

"I can leave you in the there if you don't like it," Bane said as he cut the lock off the second cage.

"It-it talks!" the captain stuttered.

"By the way," I said as I stepped out of the cage, "Nice entrance."

"They'll come for us soon," the captain interrupted, "We need weapons!" I looked at the supply depos that our cages rested next to.

"Bane," I said, "Give us a hand with the depo doors?" Bane moved to the supply depo as the bulk of my base poured out of the open cages, wearily following Bane. The hydralisk smashed the door in and heaved it aside, letting the marines through. He opened another one for them and, before long, everybody had a gauss rifle. There were a few TRA's left in the academy that the medics gladly armed themselves with.

"Defensive positions!" The captain yelled, and we took what cover was offered with the academy and the supply depos. The rumbling of a siege tank could be heard and Bane took off towards the sound,

"I hate machines!" was all he said. I thought about stopping him, but Bane seemed to know what he was doing, so I just groaned and checked the safety on my gun. Bane kept going until he was far out of our range and stopped in the distance. From what we could see, he vanished into the ash instantly. If you blinked, you would have missed it. Then the marines came into view, charging in by the dozens, while we were a mere 50 marines and medics; well, 55 marines if you count Bane.

"Fire!" Barked the Captain, and 43 gauss rifles thundered our ears. The enemy marines were stimmed to the hilt and ran headlong into the bullets firing their guns, barely feeling the impaler rounds that fatally wounded them. Bullets rained on us from the mob of angry marines, and the rumbling siege tank came into view; stopping abruptly and going into siege mode. Marines were screaming "MEDIC!" and the few noble women ran with their TRA's to stem the tide of damage that flooded in on us. A bullet whizzed by my head, and one nicked my arm. It didn't really hurt, the shock hid that. The insane marines fought on despite their wounds and the blast of a siege tank boomed over the sound of the gauss rifles. Next to me some marines were fighting and had tipped a cage over, using its giant metal bottom for cover. Soon after the crack of the siege tank, I was never to see them again. A fireball erupted around them, the explosive napalm claiming the lives of 6 marines and a medic. The marines advanced away from the siege tank and closed in on us, spewing impaler rounds with their gauss rifles. Then, Bane saved us again. He had burrowed right next to where the siege tank stopped, and shot up out of the ash at the sound of its shock cannon. He leaped agilely onto the giant treads of the siege tank and then up to the top. The operator inside saw the cross hairs of his targeting system squared on a new group of the prisoners one second, the next he yelled and stumbled back in his seat as a hydralisk had clambered on top of his tank, blocking his view port. Bane reached the hatch and stared at the solid 8-inch neosteel cap that served as the door on the roof of the tank. He took an experimental stab at the door, only to have his scythe bounce off harmlessly, only leaving a little dent in the thick armor. Inside the tank operator activated inferred targeting and the turret swiveled around a few degrees with Bane on top.

"Machines," Bane snarled as he jumped to the giant barrel of the tank, "all it takes is one simple problem..." He stood behind the barrel and swung with everything he had at the thick steel tube. The tank operator was just about to press the fire switch when a deafening clang echoed through the shell of his tank. Bane only made a little kink in the barrel. He growled swung again with both scythes, denting the kink in a little further. Bane jumped off and the siege tank operator fired. The tank's arcilite shot lodged in the kinked barrel, detonating on impact. The discharge went off inside the siege tank, turning its protective armor hull into the shell for a bomb. The tank exploded in a crimson ball of fire, sending shrapnel raining down. But the marines had us outnumbered and we were losing ground. They forced us back, holding us pinned behind cover with their gauss rifles. Then, as many times before, Bane saved us again. The marines, busy trying to kill us, didn't notice the 10 foot terror that closed in on them from behind. Bane reached the marines and had a field day with his scythes, stabbing and cutting the close-packed marines down one by one. The marines turned their backs on us to address their critical hydralisk problem and we pounced back out of cover, letting them have it with our guns. The organization of the team broke down, as they were forced to split their efforts between battling the hydralisk and the armed prisoners. In the end, all that was left in the battlefield was a couple dozen prisoners, a little shaken up from their fierce firefight, and one shot up, panting hydralisk. Cheers and whistles broke out as Bane came slithering back to us, only limping slightly. Everyone was happy and yelling, celebrating an incredible victory. I smacked Bane on the back,

"Great job! How do you feel?" Bane winched with the impact of my hand.

"What's a matter? You're not invincible?" I asked sarcastically.

"Those puny rifles hurt when you get enough of them together," he complained, "And you don't have one of those medic machines laying around, do you?"

To Be Continued...


	6. Bane 6: Rise of Chaos

Once everyone got over their fear, Bane became quite popular as the base fell into its usual routines. Marines would look up at him and ask questions, talk about big battles and jabber about action they'd seen on the front lines. Bane would then hush them all with tales of even bigger battles and more epic heroes, causing the crowds around him to erupt in new waves of stories and constant questions. Even a few of the medics overcame their fear and came within three feet. It was a day just like every other day that week. I had slept in and Bane was gone somewhere when I woke up.

"You seen Bane anywhere?" I asked a marine as I stepped out of the barracks into Char's dim morning sun. The marine was in the middle of his morning rounds and answered me without stopping his patrol,

"I think I saw him by the academy, messing with those medics again."

"Thanks," I said over my shoulder as I turned and started on my way to the academy. There he was, sure enough, standing around and running his mouth (or mind really) to the off-duty medics.

"Your pet zerg is great!" they announced to me as I walked up. Bane groaned,

"It's about time you got up! You sleep like a zergling," The medics laughed at my uncombed hair and baggy eyes as if noticing them for the first time. I was just about to retaliate when Bane pointed to the sky,

"What's that?" he asked as a few meek little dots appeared in the distant blue, growing steadily larger.

"I dunno," I confessed, "Can't tell yet-they're too far away." A droning alarm started going off as the dots began to take shape.

"What's that mean?" Bane said over the noise. The medics took off and everyone started becoming frantic around us.

"That means there's an officer coming. Looks like some hot-shot general has decided to pay a visit." I guessed right, because in a few seconds an official dominion flagship appeared, followed by a lumbering battle cruiser and two wraith escorts.

"What's going on?" I asked a marine as he ran by.

"It's the emperor's messengers,"

"Mengsk?" I asked, "What's he doing here?"

"I dunno," the marine shrugged, "Guess we'll find out shortly." Bane and I stood watching everyone run around until Bane noticed three official looking people strutting through the crowds,

"Who are they? They look different from everyone else here."

"Messengers," I said as they drew near, "I wonder what they want." I was taken by surprise when they marched straight up to us, keeping their distance from Bane, but studying him intensely.

"Are you Specialist Charley Daniels?" The one in the middle asked. I stood at attention and saluted the superior officer.

"As you were," he said after returning my salute. I stood at ease.

"Reports of a tame Hydralisk saving the Char Resource Operation have reached the capitol," One of them said, staring up at Bane. Bane returned his stare and the officer stuttered before continuing,

"The Emperor was very impressed by your valiant achievements and would like to meet you in person to offer an official promotion."

"Is that a good thing?" Bane asked curiously.

"We accept!" I said quickly, ignoring Banes question, "I've always wanted a nice pay raise."

"Follow us to the flagship," another officer said and they all turned abruptly, heading back the way they came.

"C'mon," I said to Bane, "We're getting off this boring planet!" We moved along hastily, keeping up with the swift stride of the messengers. They lead us to a dropship were two MP's guarded the entrance. The officers walked up the ramp and Bane stopped,

"Are you sure about this?" he asked wearily, still remembering his crash landing just a week ago.

"Go ahead," I whispered, "I'm right behind you!" Bane followed the last officer into the ship and I walked up behind him. An officer stepped in front of me holding a hand up and saying, "Not you, boy! Just the hydralisk goes!"

"But-" I started to protest but the stern face of the messenger and his offending hand was gone in a flash. Bane had spun around snarling and shoved the officer against the wall of the dropship, were he had him pinned by the throat with the blunt edge of one scythe. Bane lowered his head even with the messengers face,

"The mortal goes where he wants!" the hydralisk growled. The MP's at the bottom of the ramp drew there guns,

"Stop right there!" one of them yelled. Bane turned from the officer he had pinned for just a second,

"Put that TOY away before I tear you in half!" He snapped at them. The messenger turned very pale and his eyes rolled back in his head. Bane let him go and he passed out, crumpling onto the floor. Bane turned and faced the MP's with scythes ready. The first messenger on the ship, the superior officer, was watching the whole thing without blinking and finally croaked,

"So he goes." The MP's grumbled and holstered their side arms and gave me dirty looks as I walked up the ramp. They stayed outside and the ramp swung closed. I looked out the window and watched the dust and ash swirl around the ship as the thrusters carried us away.

The ride in the dropship to the capitol was quite possibly the most extraordinarily boring five hours of my entire life. The atmosphere in the ship was pretty hostile at first, but before long a little conversation broke through. As the hours dragged on though, we ran out of broad subjects to talk about. Talk died down and it became difficult to fight sleep. Pretty soon, everyone was snoring around me, even Bane had trouble staying awake. His eyes were almost shut and his head kept drifting down then snapping back up as he fought sleep. Soon, I caught myself doing the same thing. Finally, the whining drone of the dropship's engines was too much and I was gone.

A voice broke through the darkness, light invading with it,

"Common! The emperor ain't gonna wait all day!" Who ever it was stopped and the sleep started taking over again, until the grizzly voice snapped me awake,

"Git yer sorry asses up!" That did the trick. Everyone was on their feet with minimal commotion and only one sleepy growl from Bane. The messengers left us there and Bane and I stepped out of the dropship. There was some short fat guy in a pair of greasy coveralls holding a old wrench and a tired looking shop rag. We must have looked confused because he finally asked,

"Where you headed?" I looked down to his name tag that was so dirty I had to squint to read it.

"Clem," I finally deciphered, "Can you tell me where I'll find the Emperor?"

"Top floor," he said quickly, pointing over his shoulder with the wrench, "Elevator's at the end of the hall." We went were he told us to and eventually came to the elevator. The ship bay was pretty far up, so it wasn't a long ride. Once at the top, there was a wide, dull hallway with a big set of wooden double doors at the end.

"Let's go meet the Emperor," I said dully as I shoved the doors open. They swung wide, revealing an immense office with tall ceilings and giant book cases lining the walls. There was a thick, plush rug that ran straight up the middle of the office to a expensive wooden desk sitting in front of three long windows overlooking the city. A tall chair was behind the desk, rocking slightly. It stopped abruptly and the Emperor boomed,

"Welcome to the capitol, Gentlemen!" as he swiveled around in his chair, a practiced politician smile not giving anything away,

"You're probably wondering why I called you here today, so I won't disappoint you." Bane gave me a confused look and I just shrugged. Mengsk continued,

"You see, I've been in need of a talented team to perform unique tasks for the good of the dominion. I could send hundreds of men and spends thousands in valuable resources, but why do so when a pair of stalwart warriors can serve just as well? When I heard that a single ghost operative and his tame hydralisk wiped out a whole faction of rebels, I knew I had found my warriors-"

"Get to the point!" Bane interrupted, "I'm hungry!"

"My point is," The emperor continued, "That I want you to work for me. Leave your dead-end post in the third defense garrison and make something of yourselves."

"What's in it for me?" Bane asked. The emperor laughed out loud,

"You said you are hungry didn't you?" Bane nodded quickly. "Then that will be your reward! You'll have more time to sleep and more food to eat than you'll ever know what to do with." Bane grinned with his big, toothy mouth,

"Count me in!" he said enthusiastically.

"You _know_ what I want." I said. The emperor nodded and pulled out a fat checkbook, slapping it on the table.

"So we have an agreement, then?"

"You bet!" I answered.

"Then let us get down to business, shall we?" he announced. Mengsk slid a folder of pictures my way,

"These are the comsat photos of one of many Rebel compounds here on Tarsonis. They are in league with the rebels that captured the Resource Operation on Char. Together, they've been trying to undermine the Dominion for years. I would send in the local militia to deal with this problem but our situation is one that will not allow a large scale military response." Mengsk slid me another photo.

"This is my right hand advisor, taken hostage by these rebels." I took a good look at the photo, and the windbag kept talking,

"They will execute her if any violent retaliation is taken, so I need you to infiltrate the compound and rescue the advisor. The supply room is two floors down-use anything at my disposal that you deem necessary for this mission, Good Luck!" With not so much as another word, he flipped back around and faced the windows again. I turned to leave and Bane followed me. Heading down the hall, he finally spoke up,

"Is it just me, or is something not exactly kosher about him?" We reached the elevator and I pressed the down button. The doors opened with a "Ping!" and we stepped inside.

"I got the same feeling, but this IS a better job." I said.

"Yeah," Bane sighed, "Maybe you're right."

I tried the new access code on the door and it only bleeped again, telling me that access is denied.

"Are you sure you don't want me to open it?" Bane groaned.

"I would," I confessed while trying the code one more time, "but I don't think the maintenance crew will appreciate your methods as much." Finally, the door slid up with a hiss and the lights came on inside automatically, revealing shelves of assorted weaponry and high-tech field equipment.

"Ah!" I said, rubbing my hands together, "Pay dirt!" I walked slowly down the aisles, drooling over the shiny new canister rifles, grenade launchers, different caliber machine guns and one fully automatic, belt fed monster in the corner.

"They're all machines-Just pick one!" Bane complained. I walked to one rack and said,

"Hold these," Bane held both scythes up and I started grabbing guns and laying them across his scythes by the armful. Bane held a stack nearly taller than I stood before we finished.

"That should do it," I said, until I noticed the big glass case of ghost equipment in the back. I walked to the case and stared at the upgraded cloak inhibitors and the best in targeting technology. I threw a pair of inhibitors on top of the stack and one pair of the new night vision, inferred, target analyzing, scope zoom goggles. Bane strained a little under the load that probably weighed more than he did.

"Is there anything else?" he managed.

"You're right," I said, "Can't forget spare ammo." Bane sighed, following me to the stack of crates brimming with fresh clips and boxes of shells. At last, with Bane stumbling under the arsenal, I grabbed an expensive looking case of specialty canister rounds and another colt side arm just for good measure.

"One last thing," I said and snatched a set of keys off their peg on the wall.

"C'mon!" Bane raged.

"That's it," I said. I turned to leave, tossing the keys over my shoulder onto the stack Bane carried. I nearly jumped to the ceiling in surprise when Bane collapsed, snarling, beneath the pile of weapons and one set of keys too many.

Bane heaved the huge stack of weapons into the back of the dropship, growling with the effort.

"You tryin' to supply a whole platoon, son?" Chuckled Clem, the mechanic from earlier, as he watched Bane throw everything down.

"Not me," Bane said proudly between panting breaths,

"These are the only weapons I need." The hydralisk brandished its scythes and the mechanic laughed at the signature fighting stance.

"And right powerful weapons they are, too!" Clem said with a thick southern accent. Finally, his laughter died down some and he looked around for me, then asked

"Where's your partner in crime?" Bane was sitting on the ramp, resting, and answered,

"I dunno. He said he was going to pick up a few last minute necessities." Clem burst into new fits of laughter,

"Wha'd he forget! The kitchen sink?" Suddenly, the tall cargo door to the hanger slid open and the hydraulic beast known as the C-83 Goliath War Walker stomped up to the dropship. Its electronic voice boomed through the hanger,

"Intruder! Drop you weapons, you have ten seconds to comply!" Bane only looked bored,

"C'mon, mortal. I want to deal with this sometime before I die of starvation," the hydralisk's mind said dully. The cockpit of the goliath split open, and I jumped down.

"Sorry," I admitted, "I've always wanted to do that." Bane stood up and turned to Clem,

"Did you get rid of that seat like I asked?" Bane wanted to sit up front for a change, but the pilot's seats were simply way too small for him.

"Yep," Clem chuckled again, "Cut it out just for you!" he choked, still not fully recovered from his laughing fit. I was starting to wonder if he thought everything was a joke.

"Let's go," I said irritably.

"The best of luck to you on yer' mission!" he cackled as he walked to the control booth, opening the hanger launch door for us. Bane climbed into the back, dragging the goliath in with him. I flipped some switches and the engines came to life. The ramp swung closed Bane maneuvered over the pile of weapons and the goliath and came to sit next to me on a crate of rations.

"Ready?" I asked. Bane just nodded, so I gassed the engines and the dropship shot away, flying off towards the enemy compound.

"How?" Bane asked as he eyed the line of impenetrable bunkers and siege tanks, backed by missile turrets.

"I dunno," I said, toying with the goggles I had; trying to figure out how to make the telescope vision work.

"But I'm sure something will come along sooner or later."

" I hope it shows up soon," Bane complained while he popped calorie supplements like candy, "I hate these tasteless things!" Finally, I pressed the right button and the base flew to meet my eyes in the goggles.

"Why did Mengsk send us here," I said, studying the front line, "Nothing cloaked can get in or out in of this place in one piece-"

"Unless," Bane interrupted, "They let you in." I peeled the goggles off,

"What?" I asked. Bane only pointed at a massive, ancient salvage truck pulling out of the Base. They simply moved aside and let the truck through. It billowing up a cloud of dust and smoke as it rumbled up the dirt road towards us.

"Hmmm," I said, thinking out loud, "It could work, but we have to get the truck without damaging it, so we can't gun it down." Bane could only come up with ideas that would total it, so he had nothing to offer.

"I've got an idea," I said finally, "Run out in front of it and they will stop."

"Were did you ever come up with an idea like that!" Bane exploded.

"I saw it in a cinematic scene once and it worked." I got up and beckoned for Bane to follow me,

"In a what?" he asked reluctantly.

"A cinematic scene. A zergling ran out in front of this truck and got hit. They stopped and got out and were killed by the zerg. It can't fail!" Bane sidled wearily up to the edge of the road,

"Okay," he said watching the speeding semi. "But what happened to the zergling?" he asked at the last minute.

"Don't worry about that, here it comes!" I said and jogged out of the road. Bane sighed and did as I said, staring into the headlights of the truck as it crested the last hill.

"I hate machines," I heard Bane groan right before his face met the grill of the trucks radiator. The hydralisk snarled in surprise and pain as the truck smashed him out of the way, but one fender was torn off in the collision and the grill and headlights practically exploded on impact.. The truck screeched to a halt immediately and a lanky truck driver in a grey jumpsuit hopped out of the cab. He walked around to the front of the rig and whistled upon sight of the damage. Then he noticed Bane sprawled motionless in the road about 20 feet from his truck,

"Damn!" he swore out loud. "That's the biggest one I've ever hit!" Bane looked more hurt than I thought he would get by being hit by a semi, so I jumped out of hiding and trained the drivers head in the sights of my side arm.

"Step away from the Hydralisk!" I yelled. The trucker flipped around and threw his hands in the air,

"Don't shoot, man! I'm unarmed!"

"Good, then you won't be carrying much on your walk back to town." I said as I gave him a shove down the road.

"But it's fourteen miles!" he complained.

"Then it sounds like you better get started." I said casually and fired a few rounds in the air. He got the idea and took off like a relay runner. Bane growled in pain on the road and I ran up to him. He looked up at me,

"Why did you say not to worry!" he demanded, "Remind me never to stand in front of those things again!" I flipped my pack off my back and pulled out a fully charged TRA,

"This'll fix you up, just hang in there." The little gamma reactor started up and its white light flashed over Bane. He sighed with relief at first but then loosed a sharp snarl. He lurched on the ground and I could hear a large bone snapping back into place under the healing power of the TRA. I winched involuntarily at the sound,

"Ouch! What was that?" I asked.

"That was my spine, you infidel!" he groaned. The little gizmo shut itself off as Bane became fully healed. After a minute, he rolled over and got up.

"Next time, you're stopping the truck!" he snapped at me.

"Sorry," I said as we approached the semi, "Wait here and I'll go get our stuff." Bane watched me vanish into the dark trees by the road and, in a minute, I came hovering lazily out of them with our dropship. The noisy engines strained as I eased the ship onto the back of the flat-bedded truck. I cut the engines and hopped out of the truck. Walking up to the cab, I noticed the passenger side door was laying in the road, along with the seat. I looked up, and Bane was sitting comfortably in the cab, ready to go.

"I don't think you'll pass for a truck driver," I called up to him, "You'll hafta hide in back." The hydralisk grumbled and jumped out, moving to the back and climbing into the piles of rusted machinery. I jumped into the cab and started the sputtering diesel engine. Noticing a greasy hat and a tired pair of sunglasses on the visor, I put them on, hoping to look more truckerish. After making a giant three point turn, we started back toward the rebel base.

I couldn't help breaking out in a sweat as the siege tanks and bunkers came into view. I followed the road into the base and a marine stepped out and put his hand up for me to stop as I came to the bunkers.

"Back already?" he asked.

"Yeh," I said as casually as I could muster, "forgot to drop this tin can off." I pointed to the dropship in back. The marine leaned back and studied the ship for a minute before waving me through,

"Go ahead, they might want it for something." He stepped out of the way and I drove into the base. I kept following the road until I came close to the command center, were I parked the truck between a pair of supply depos. Leaving the engine running, I grabbed a clip board off the dash. I walked to the back of the truck and climbed in, trying my best to look genuine and check my fake clipboard often. I reached the dropship hatch and threw the useless paper to the ground as I opened the door. Grabbing a pair of cloak inhibitors and one of my new canister rifles, I found Bane huddled in with some of the machinery.

"We make it?" he asked quietly.

"Yep," I whispered, "But now we hafta find the advisor." Bane noticed the belts I held in my hand,

"More machines?" He guessed.

"Right again," I reported and helped him put s cloak inhibitor on, and showed him how to turn it off and on.

"Its only one button, even you can use these!" I told him. He snorted and awkwardly pressed the cloaking button with the point of one scythe. Banes intimidating form slowly vanished before my eyes.

"Lets go," I said and he followed me to the back of the truck, were I jumped down. I heard Bane's weight hit the gravel behind me and we made our way across the Base to the command center, were they probably had the advisor locked away in the brig. We reached the command center and Bane tapped my shoulder.

"Shhhh!" he hissed at me, and I spotted an SCV approaching. We stood silently and watched the SCV use his key card to open the door. We darted in after him, nearly knocking him over because the door was closing again. He looked right at us with suspicious eyes, but never caught a glimpse of us thanks to the cloak inhibitors. He grumbled and moved on, and we watched him turn the next corner before discussing our plan.

"We don't have long on the inhibitors, so lets split up," I said.

"I'll go this way then," Bane said and started moving. I nodded, even though he couldn't see it and he moved down another hall directly to the right. I went to the left and searched the next room. It should have been the brig, but these rebels had torn the command center apart and rebuilt it several times, so the room I looked into now was a break room. I tip-toed past the 6 marines lounging around and talking. I moved on and checked the next door, finding the can. The door after that was a utility closet.

"Man," I thought to myself, "This is going to be a long search."

Bane's search for the advisor was surprisingly short. He just smashed in the first door he came to and there she was, locked inside a crude little cage. She jumped out of her seat when the door to her cell crumpled up and fell off by itself. Bane moved into the room and she said,

"I know someone's there! Show yourself!" Bane's voice stole into her mind,

"I'm here to help-were going to get you out of here." She gasped and leaned against her bars,

"A telepath! Are you a ghost?" she asked with curiosity.

"No." Bane said simply as he approached her cage door. The expression on her face changed,

"Why do I get the impression that you're not human?" she asked with a failing voice.

"Because I'm not," Bane said with the same simple tone. With only a little snarl of effort, Bane tore the cage door off too. The advisor's eyes grew wide,

"I know a ghost can't do that-Show yourself!" she cried. Bane sighed,

"Are you sure you want-"

"Show your true form or I won't come with you," she interrupted. Bane couldn't think of any way to drag the advisor back to the truck with causing serious fatal injuries, so he finally gave in.

"Alright! Just keep your trap shut when I do. You could use this cloak inhibitor more than I could anyway." He found the belt for the inhibitor by touch and worked a scythe under it. He snapped the latch off easily and the cloaking field faded. The intimidating form of an over-grown Hydralisk nearly filled the room. Bane sighed as he watched the advisor's eyes roll back in her head. She gasped and fell over backwards unconscious. The hydralisk leaned down and shook the advisor gently with the flat edge of one scythe. She opened her eyes and screamed in Banes face. He jumped and hit his head on the ceiling before snapping at her,

"SHUT UP! Your going to get the guards attention!" She ran out of breath, and so did her scream. She lay there panting for a minute and finally croaked,

"You're really here to help?" Bane held a scythe down for her to grab,

"Yes, we were sent by the emperor!" he said as he hoisted her to her feet.

"Mengsk?" she asked as she put the cloak inhibitor belt around her waist, "You should have said so in the first place! Let's go!" Bane nodded and stepped out of the door. Just as the advisor stepped out after him, the six marines I saw came jogging around the corner.

"Hey! How'd a zerg get in here!" One of em yelled. They all raised their guns and took aim. Bane shoved the advisor out of the line of fire just before he was pelted with bullets from the marines.

"Hey!" she yelled as she stumbled back into the her cell and guass rifles thundered in the hallway.

I started running as soon as I heard the shots going off. They were from the other side of the command center, so I had time to pull my canister rifle off my back and turn the safety off. I rounded the next corner and skid to a stop. Bane and the marines had been battling it out in the hall. The rebel marines had the jump on him and he had to fight through a hail of bullets to just reach the first one. The hydralisk managed to cut the first enemy down, but the remaining five marines stimmed up and the impaler rounds rained on him. Bane was growling with rage beneath the pounding shots, tearing into the next marine when I showed up. I swung the barrel of my gun up to the head of the nearest marine and closed my eyes. Blood splattered as the canister rifle belched fire and the marine dropped like a stone. One of the closest marines got the rebels' attention,

"A ghost! Cover the hall!" I hit the deck just before they all turned from Bane and swept the hall with their guns. Bullets whizzed over my head and bounced off the floor around me as I took a prone position, blowing some guys leg off while Bane came from behind another marine and crushed him brutally with both scythes. The last marine turned to Bane and fired for all he was worth. Bane snarled and approached him, taking the bullets head on. The marine started backing away, but I stood up and smashed him in the back of the head with the stock of my gun, knocking him out cold.

"You shoulda-" Bane stopped in mid sentence to spit out a few well-aimed impaler rounds, "let me kill him," he finished.

"He didn't stand a chance anyway," I confessed. Then I noticed, for the first time, that Bane's cloak inhibitor was gone.

"Where'd your cloak go?" I asked. He pointed to the cell,

"I gave it to the advisor, she needs it more than I do." I leaned into the cell,

"Let's go, they'll find this mess soon and then they'll be after some answers." The advisor was huddled in the corner and spoke up,

"You're with the emperor too?" She asked.

"Yeah, we gotta move!" She got up and we hurried down the hallway back to the front door.

"I'll escort the advisor back to the ship first, then I'll bring an inhibitor back for you. Can you hold your own here for a minute?" I asked Bane. He nodded,

"Go ahead, just hurry back."

"Cloak on," I said to the advisor and she pressed the button on her belt. She vanished in the thin air and I opened the door, which doesn't lock from the inside. I was glad for the cloak inhibitors because we passed quite a few patrolling guards on the way. We made it to the truck safely and I let her hide in the dropship in the back, so I could take the cloak inhibitor. I made my way back to the command center and Bane was still there, although roughed up a little more.

"What happened?" I asked as I helped him put the cloak belt on.

"Another pair of terrans came through," he said simply and gestured over one shoulder to another slaughter in the hallway. Bane disappeared and we left the command center behind, shutting the door behind us. I was also happy for the coming of night, because the blood trail that Bane left wasn't going to be invisible. The truck came into view, and Bane climbed in the back again. I jumped up to the cab and put on the hat and sunglasses again. Turning the cloak inhibitor off, I put the idling truck in gear and pulled out of my hiding spot. I saw a patrolling marine find a bloodspot on the ground with his suit lights in my rear view mirror. I hit the gas a little more as he began to follow the trail to the command center. I gulped as the siege tanks and bunkers came into view again. The same marine stepped out and I stopped again. He came around to the window and said,

"That was fast, what happened?" I shrugged,

"Boss said he didn't want it." The marine smirked and said,

"That's typical," as he waved me through. I drove through the blockade and sighed with relief as we got out of range of the devastating siege tanks. Bane sent me a message through the cab of the truck,

"I think we got caught," I looked in the mirror and almost ran off the road as 4 vultures blew by the lumbering truck. They stopped in the road in front of us and fired their fragmentation grenade launchers. Explosions rocked the dirt road as I swerved around, trying to dodge some of the shots. They fired again and I cut the wheel back to the left. Two shots missed, but one hit low on the right side, blowing the tires and suspension out. Another hit the front grill squarely and the engine erupted into a fireball.

"Time to go!" I said and climbed out of my window into the bed of the truck, letting it coast right off the road.

"In the ship, lets go!" I said hastily to Bane and opened the hatch. We hit the bed hard as the truck jumped the ditch into the trees. Then the dropship slid forward as the truck smashed into a big tree, stopping dead. I got up with a groan and stumbled into the ship, letting Bane in then closing the hatch and powering up the engines. The vultures pulled up the road and faced the truck, aiming their grenade launchers.

"Hold on to something!" I warned everyone before I hit the throttle. The vultures fired as we blew out of the back of the truck. The truck exploded into a mushroom cloud as we zoomed over the vultures, knocking the pilots out of their seats. We gained altitude and the vultures followed along for a while, but a cliff finally stopped their pursuit all together. Silence reigned in the humming dropship all the way back to the capitol.

Rain streaked down the three long windows as Mengsk sat behind his desk, having a fierce conversation with the Rebel commander on the holophone.

"I'm only gonna say this one last time, Mandelle. All I'm offering is a truce. As you already know, my team has extracted your last remaining bargaining chip. So the choice should be simple." A tall, highly decorated officer in a rebel uniform talked on the holoscreen,

"You lead a tough deal, Mengsk, but I don't see any other choice."

"So we have an agreement, then?" Mengsk asked with a malevolent tone.

"Alright, you win. Bring us the cerebrate and I'll give you control of the renegade swarms." Mengsk leaned back in his chair, sighing heavily,

"I'm glad you see things from my point of view now, Mandelle! Send me the location of your nearest facility and I'll have the cerebrate sent to you as soon as it returns."

"The co-ordinance is on the way, Mengsk, we'll be ready and waiting for him." The emperor put his finger on the power button of the holophone and said,

"Please do have a formidable defense, Mandelle. The ghost won't be hard to deal with, but this hydralisk can be a dangerously resourceful fighter." The Rebel commander started to say something else, but Mengsk cut the screen off and his picture faded away. Mengsk turned, facing the windows again and started laughing quietly to himself. The laugh rose in volume and became hysterical as a single dropship ventured the rain and brought his newest weapon closer and closer.

To be continued...

Greetings, most righteous Bane fans! You must accept my apologies for taking so long with the next installment. I've been so busy between work, my website, starcraft online and finishing Bane 14, that I simply couldn't find the time to make a double-spaced version of Bane 6 for this site. However, what you just read is true. There are a whole slew of Bane chapters already finished and posted if you wish to read on, and there are two places to do so.

The easiest way is through my site, which is in my profile.

Oncethere, simply click the button on the left entitled Bane and you're on your way. However, the only way to leave feedback(which I live for! thanks for reading, by the way!) on my site is by using the guest book or emailing me directly.

Starcraft . org also hosts the up-to-date Bane series. Search for Bane in the short story or serials section. The advantage of this site over mine is the fact that they have a built in comment and rating system right below the actual story text. You DO have to sign up for a user account to leave a comment or rating, but it takes only a few moments and, of course, its free.

Once again, and as always, thanks for reading!

lates,

The immortal deadfast


	7. Bane 7: Vile Betrayal

The ship bay on the huge dominion building opened by itself when we drew near. A pounding thunderstorm had blown in and the rain buffeted our ship around as I maneuvered into the hangar. After the curtain of water streaming over the door was parted by the windshield of the ship, I spotted four MP's standing in the Hangar. The landing gear swung down as I cut the engines and the ship hit the floor with a satisfying metallic thud. I flipped the switch that opened the cargo door and one of the MP's shut the hangar door behind us. Jumping down from the pilots hatch to join Bane and the Advisor at the rear of the ship, I threw my hand up in salute to the MP's and they returned it.

"Specialist Charley Daniels reporting in," I said, "Mission successful."

"Well done, we'll take the advisor from here." One of them said and two MP's and the advisor we just saved walked away, leaving the remaining MP's with us. One of them spoke up when the MP's and the advisor were out of the room.

"The emperor is prepared to speak to you, follow us to the office."

"Wait!" I said, "Again? We just finished a mission-we don't get a little break?" One of them sighed,

"You'll have to take that up with Mengsk. All we know is that he ordered us to escort you to the office immediately following your arrival. Now, are you gonna follow us peaceably or do we hafta drag you up there?" Bane began a deep growl behind me, taking the MP's off handed comment as a threat.

"Don't get yourselves hurt," I warned them with a sneer, "We're coming." They turned and led the way out of the Hangar to the elevator we used last time. After a quick ride to the top; they followed us all the way to the wooden double doors, stopping just outside as we went in. The office was dark and gloomy. The three great windows flared with light as thunder clapped outside. A single desk lamp showed the Emperor to be hard at work on some important looking papers. We approached the desk and he looked up, taking his reading glasses off,

"Gentlemen! Extraordinary job saving the advisor! A whole army of Marines couldn't have done any better-"

"Where's my food?" Bane interrupted. Mengsk laughed out loud, his voice echoing through the expanse of his office.

"All in due time, my hungry friend, we have important matters to discuss." Bane snarled irritably and Mengsk continued, "I know you have just returned from a vigorous mission, but your services are needed now more than ever. The Rebel factions have become outraged with the recovery of the Advisor. They have banded together and are actively engaging Dominion cities, but we were lucky enough to intercept one of their latest transmissions. It appears the rebels are planning an attack on the Capitol, and are already on the way with multiple troops. The local militia can handle the invaders in most cases, but we are outnumbered on the southwest side of the city. I need you to take my personal militia and lead them to ambush the incoming rebel convoys before they reach the-"

"I won't listen to another word if you don't come off with my food!" Bane snarled. The emperor laughed again; I even snickered a little under my breath.

"Alright, alright!" Mengsk gave in, reaching out and hitting the button on his holophone. In a minute, a high pitched voice rang out from it,

"Yes, sir?" Mengsk leaned forward and spoke calmly,

"Bring me a second dinner, Philis."

"Another 18 ounce well done?" the holophone asked.

"No," Mengsk said, studying Bane for a minute, "You'd better bring the whole rack." The voice in the holophone stuttered,

"A whole rack! Are you serious?"

"I won't ask again," Mengsk said impatiently.

"Yessir!" the holophone croaked before shutting off.

"What's a whole rack?" Bane asked me quietly while Mengsk argued with his secretary.

"If you like military issue hamburger and the critters on Char-you'll like this." I assured him. Then the emperor started spouting boring details about our mission again,

"The troops are already en route to escort you to the ambush site. You have one hour before the strike force arrives, the best of luck to you both."

We didn't have much time to rest. While Bane wolfed down his food, I snagged a new Canister rifle with some lockdown rounds from the stockade. When I came back, the bay doors were open and the storm pounded outside. Bane was in front of the door, waiting on the dropship that approached slowly in the driving winds.

"I hate machines," he muttered as I came to stand next to him, staring at our lumbering escort.

The ride in the dropship was awkward, just us sitting in the back while someone else flew. We took a strange route out of the colony, far past where I thought the city limits were.

"That's odd," I said, staring out the view port at the dark desert scene below, "It looks like were way past the city limits." It was still very dark outside, but the rain had slowed down considerably. I The pilot had a set of headphones on with a microphone and a message broke through the static. He listened for a minute and, turning around, he said,

"We're here! On your toes, boys!" I looked out the window again, but it was impossible to distinguish anything except our height above the ground and some dull canyon walls that grew around us as we descended. The rear cargo hatch slid open and the sounds of gunfire and explosions wafted in with the cool night air. I sighed and jumped 5 feet to the ground because the dropship pilot wouldn't come down any closer. Bane hit the dirt next to me and I took my first look around. We were in a canyon with steep rock walls on either side. A rough road ran straight down the middle of this canyon, leading behind us to town and down the canyon somewhere in front of us. As I looked back towards the city, I noticed the lights of more drop ships approaching. They slowed overhead and descended the way our ship did, letting the troops spill out the back door before taking off again. I counted thirty marines, a dozen siege tanks and 6 upgraded goliaths that spewed from the ships.

"Who are they?" Bane asked.

"Must be the private militia Mengsk was talking about." I answered, listening to the sounds of a fierce battle not so far down the canyon. Marines were shouting orders and the siege tanks moved out.

"I think we better go with em," I said and Bane and I hurried to catch up with the troops. I jogged out in front of a siege tank to the squad of marines. They didn't stop running as I started to ask questions,

"Were we headed?" I asked. The squad leader spoke up without breaking his stride,

"Got a group of hostiles advancing on the front line, escorting the convoy and comsats indicate reinforcements closing in on the right flank." We came to a slope in the canyon, were the river that once flowed through it carved deep into the earth, making the canyon walls loom even higher above us. The ground sloped down and the sounds of battle drew close. Then, the siege tanks stopped abruptly and went into siege mode. Marines around us stimmed up and I said to Bane,

"This is it! Are you ready?" He had been silently observing the entire scene and watching the canyons walls carefully the entire trip, not offering any conversation.

"I don't like this," he said finally, starting to follow me as the marines charged,

"Something doesn't seem right." I nodded and picked up the pace, Bane followed carefully behind. I could vaguely see the enemy line over the light of the burning buildings. Machine guns were going off and bullets pelted the ground around our feet.

"What's going on?" Bane asked frantically behind me. I looked back over my shoulder and the marines had stopped, letting us go out ahead. Bane had stopped too and faced them, and turned back to find the rebel forces were lined up behind too, as they all took aim at us. The machine guns were silent and everything stopped . Suddenly, the ground around us lit up like broad daylight as multiple spotlights illuminated the canyon from the enemy side and ours. Strangely enough for a battle field, silence reigned for a few seconds save for the roaring flames of the burning bunkers. We could clearly see the 30 marines in front of us, who had their rifles trained on Bane and I. The siege tanks were behind them, barrels posed to fire. Our own goliaths were facing us with 30mm auto cannons ready. Behind us, the enemy had forces of their own targeting us as well; marines, bunkers and more siege tanks lined the wide stone trail on the other side of us. I heard a roar of engines, and 9 wraiths soared over the canyon walls, swooping in low over us and coming to a hover 50 above our heads with laser batteries charged. We were surrounded on all sides, there was no escape.

"This doesn't look good," I said out loud as I heard guns cocking and hydraulic motors of the machines whining around us. Bane started snarling involuntarily at this new threat.

"Wait," I said, "There are too many, you can't fight them all!" I knew Bane heard me, but his fighter instinct wouldn't let him go down peaceably, and he continued growling.

"So!" a familiar voice with a thick southern accent boomed. We both whipped around in time to see a man in a power suit striding close to us, fearlessly stepping into range of our siege tanks and marines.

"The sole surviving cerebrate! I can hardly believe the sight of this. A hydralisk-Who would have guessed?" As he drew near, I recognized him as none other than the emperor himself. Rage welled up in my throat,

"What's the deal, Mengsk!" I exploded, "You bring us out here to be ambushed by the rebels and our own army?" Mengsk threw his head back and laughed,

"Really? What would make you think that?" the emperor sighed,

"Okay, you caught me, come along and you might live. Although, if you resist, I will allow the use of this deadly force," he said, gesturing to the troops that surrounded us. Mengsk continued,

"All we want is the hydralisk, these kind rebels have some important business to conduct with-" Bane roared, interrupting him,

"MENGSK! You'll pay for this!"

"Will I?" The emperor asked sarcastically, "I think not. You see, my friend, you are the last remaining key to total dominance in this galaxy. Now, just throw down your weapons and come along-"

"I'll die fighting before you capture me!" Bane raged with clenched teeth. Mengsk started backing up towards the safety of the siege tanks and goliaths and kept talking,

"Son, if you don't cooperate on your own, I'm afraid we'll have to force some cooperation…" he trailed off, letting the gleaming gun barrels finish for him. I looked to Bane,

"What can we do against all this?" He shot me a quick look,

"If I am captured, your mortal worlds are doomed," I nodded, knowing what Bane would do, regardless of what the odds were-he would fight, even if he couldn't win.

"I'm only gonna say this one more time," Mengsk began again. Bane raised his scythes, snarling terribly. I knew he wouldn't go down without taking a few enemies with him, so I decided that I would share his fate and die fighting alongside my friend. My hands began shaking violently as I loaded the first lockdown round into my canister rifle. The emperor started a countdown,

"I'll give you to the count of five to drop your weapons and surrender: One...Two..." I turned on my cloak inhibitor and vanished beside the hydralisk. Mengsk managed to get to three before Bane lunged. The battle field exploded with the thunderous blasts of the machine guns as Bane went straight for Mengsk. I hit the dirt as bullets whizzed over my head and sent up little tufts of dirt as some shots just barely missed me. I carefully brought my canister rifle up and fired the lockdown round at the closest goliath. It was gunning away at Bane with its auto cannons when it suddenly stopped short, falling over as electrical energy covered it and shorted its circuits. I fired another, stopping a tank in its tracks, before switching to C-10 rounds. Bane was nearly within firing range of the emperor when I began picking off marines one at a time. In spite of the heavy load of bullets that Bane took head-on, he managed to open his chest cavity and get a few shots at the emperor. I heard Mengsk yell in pain and surprise as one of the hydralisks's shots hit its mark. Picking off marines, I saw Mengsk shout an order to his siege tanks while trying to stop the blood from running down one arm. The powerful blasts of the siege tank's arcilite cannons shook the ground under me and the recoil could be heard over every gauss rifle and machine gun. Luckily, most of the shots fell just short of the hydralisk, setting the earth on fire and scorching it with their fiery shockwaves, but one shot hit him directly. I could hear Bane's wail of pain as the shell hit him squarely in the chest. I lost sight of my friend as the scolding flames completely engulfed him, burning him alive and crushing carapace with the force of the explosion. Bane came stumbling backwards out of the fireball, nearly flying, and the tanks fired again. The rebel side fired with the Dominion forces and the poorly aimed arcilite blasts shattered the ground around him. I had to look away as he was hit again. This time, two shots hit him directly, one from the dominion side and one from the rebels. The twin crimson explosions pummeled him with their ripping flames. I actually saw pieces of smoldering carapace fly out of the inferno as Bane's cry was muffled by the devastating firestorm. With the exception of my thumping canister rifle, the battle field grew silent as the smoke and fire cleared. I stopped firing and watched the scene unfold. My mouth hung open as Bane's smoldering form became visible again. Somehow, he was still standing; bleeding and scorched all over; favoring a dislocated arm with the other scythe. Mengsk gave another gruff order and the machine guns started again. He could only snarl weakly, weaving under the hundreds of raining bullets before finally collapsing. He fell over backwards and the firing stopped slowly. The troops, Rebel and dominion, encircled him with gauss rifles pointed down, and closed in on him. I swung my canister rifle up to the closest marine and pulled the trigger, but only an disappointing click met my ears. I could do nothing but watch as they got near. Bane was still writhing on the ground, a mass of bloody carapace and torn flesh. The hydralisk was still alive though, and fought capture with everything it had left. The foolish marines got close and Bane managed a few swings with his scythes, taking one guys leg off and stabbing someone else in the foot. The marines went into an uproar and mercilessly opened fire again, blasting Bane into the ground with bullets. If he lived, I could have waited until an opportunity came up for me to attempt a rescue, but I lost my head and dove at one of the marines killing my helpless friend. He yelled to his comrades as something invisible tackled him to the ground. I smashed his face with the stock of my canister rifle in rage, busting his nose and mouth wide open. He screamed and held his face with his hands as I got up and used my gun like a bat on the next marine. He took the blow head-on and toppled into the group of enemies. Recovering from the surprise attack, they turned and opened fire in my general direction. I tried to run, but my legs exploded in pain, causing me to trip and fall. The troops stopped firing as a dropship approached from the rebel side. I could do nothing but lay in the dirt and try not to scream with the pain. I tried to get up as they dragged Bane's limp form into the dropship and began marching south, down the canyon, but I could only struggle a few steps before my legs collapsed beneath me. The dropship lifted off and the canyon slowly became deserted, with the exception of Mengsk and about 8 marines, who stayed behind. They were pretty close, so I could hear the conversation over my own panting breath,

"I know he's here somewhere," Mengsk said, "Although I highly doubt it, the kid may be able to interfere with my plans," I winched as I tried to drag myself away. Mengsk continued, "I know a cloak inhibitor doesn't last forever, so when he reappears, take care of him." The marines chuckled amongst themselves and Mengsk turned, following the convoy south.

Silence and darkness reigned as I watched the marines standing above me. I had a little time to think, despite the pain and the impeding doom buzzing around me in the form of 8 guass rifles. There was no way out of this. The cloak inhibitor would run out of power and they will kill me. I couldn't hope to run away, my legs could barely sustain dragging me into a sitting position against a rock. They had Bane, for whatever strange reason, and Mengsk had won. The marines seemed to draw in closer to me as I watched the last few digits of power click away on the inhibitor belt. All too soon, the cloak failed and my blood soaked body was suddenly visible. They walked up to me, and one of the marines spoke,

"You fought bravely, kid, but you fought for the wrong side." They raised their rifles and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the bullets to rip into me. No mighty scythe would save me now, no terrifying growl would crack the still air. Instead, I heard a different sound: a sort of "Woosshink!" sound of psionic blades on throats came to my ears. I opened my eyes to see the marines heads popping one by one. They turned and tried to flee before the invisible assassins, but none of them made it more than ten feet before toppling forward onto the rock. I stared up at the thin air that had slain my assassins,

"Who..What?" I stuttered. A voice came to my mind, breaking in the way Bane's voice does,

"It does not matter who we are," The voice was deep and aged, but sounded far more intelligent than I ever thought possible. The dust shifted oddly around me as four dark forms slowly faded into my view. I gasped, never having seen a dark templar up close before. They were protoss alright, but different from any other. These wore no armor, only the tribal robes and tattered cloths of the Khala protected them. They only carried one psionic blade apiece, but they were modified to be lighter and more powerful than any common zealot blade. They looked down at me, all four of them, and the one in the middle spoke up again,

"We watched the emperor betray you." I sat up against a boulder, grunting with the effort of motion,

"Yeah," I managed to say, "And Mengsk took Bane, but why?" The templar kept glancing at the puddle of blood that was slowly spreading from my legs,

"There will be time for explanations later," he said as two of his comrades shut their blades down and grabbed my shoulders. They easily lifted me off my feet, carrying me by the arms. "We've never had to heal a terran before, but I believe we could manage," he trailed off as the templar hauled me away.

It was strange being in a protoss base. It wasn't really much of a base either; just a net of photon cannons and a shield battery filled the small rocky alcove hidden in the canyon wall. The templar couldn't heal as well as a trusty medic, but I could use my legs again. Another thing I noted about the protoss right away was how quickly they got down to business. No idling talking, no eating, no lazing around-none of the weaknesses of a terran army. As soon as I was healed, the discussion began again,

"They took the cerebrate because it is the only remaining key to controlling the broods," one of them started. I was trying to rub some feeling back into my numb legs and looked up,

"How would you know?" I asked. The templar looked nearly insulted when he answered,

"We templar have acutely tuned psionic abilities-we can read thoughts."

"Can you tell what I'm thinking, then?" I asked. The templar's eyes glowed as he squinted them, staring at me for a minute.

"No," he finally said, "I cannot gauge them correctly when you hide them so, but your emperor was not so careful. The Terran left its thoughts to broadcast over the entire canyon-it is how we found you." I nodded, stowing that little bit of information away in the back of my mind,

"How will they take control of the swarms with a hydralisk?"

"Not just a hydralisk," he corrected, "A cerebrate-Kerrigan's cerebrate!" I only gave him a confused look and went back to work on my leg while he explained,

"Long ago, the queen of blades noticed that the swarms were defeated too easily because their leaders were nothing more than defenseless worms, incapable of fighting back when enemies drew near. So Kerrigan chose her strongest, most versatile unit, the hunter-killer, to be her cerebrate. But upon bestowing a hunter killer with the powers of a cerebrate, she consequently gave it a free will as well. The creature saw Kerrigan's dark design for the evil plan it truly was and rebelled. The cerebrate then cast its swarms back at Kerrigan and a huge battle ensued, even though it was out numbered by the queen's massive army. The hunter-killer's army was decimated, but the cerebrate escaped before she could destroy him." I nodded, but I still had more questions,

"But what good is a cerebrate to Mengsk?" The templar thought a minute before answering,

"Couldn't the emperor use your crude terran technology to build an army, as the UED did with overmind?"

"You're right, that's probably why the rebels were there, too!" I said, jumping to my feet. "This has to be stopped!"

"Agreed," said the Templar next to me, reaching into his robes and pulling out something boxy and metallic. "I found the terran marines carrying these primitive weapons-perhaps you could make some use of them," he said, handing me the guass rifle of a fallen marine.

"Thanks," I said, "But why did you guys rescue me in the first place?"

"Because," answered another templar, "The cerebrate is a powerful enemy, and with you along he may give in peaceably. It is...odd: in all my centuries on the battle field, I have never seen such a bond in so merciless a creature. It fights to protect you..." the templar trailed off again, not finishing the statement. His head snapped back up after a minute, "We must go, our time is short." The other templar were already standing by, ready to leave.

"Once we have recovered the beast, we shall ensure the safety of our race and yours and rid ourselves of the Zerg menace forever; the creature must be destroyed to end the Zerg swarms for good."

"What!" I interrupted, stopping short and swinging my rifle up to the face of the templar who spoke last.

"Bane," I shouted at him, "has saved my life and the lives of countless others many times over," I jerked the bolt back on the gauss rifle, "And I won't let you or anyone else threaten him." The Protoss stood up to its full height, easily a foot or two above my head, and spoke with slitted eyes,

"Either you help us on our terms," all four templar then activated their crackling psionic blades, "Or you'll share 'Bane's' fate." I studied the stern looks on the faces of the templar around me and considered my situation. The last time I lost my head, I got my legs nearly blown off. These templar wouldn't have any trouble dispatching one head-strong, over aggressive terran ghost; maybe they _could_ get into the rebel compound safely. If so, then who said I have to hang around and follow orders? I could use them to get inside the compound and then break away to find Bane on my own.

"Alright!" I lied, "I suppose it's better than Mengsk or the Rebels controlling the Zerg." I lowered my gauss rifle and the templar seemed to relax again. The tense atmosphere passed and the protoss turned abruptly from me, walking out of the small base.

"We have wasted enough time," was all the warning I got to move out. I checked the safety on my gauss rifle and jogged to catch up.

"Genetic decoding and transfer complete," droned the computers artificial voice. They had to bring the cerebrate back via dropship. 6 marines had to pack in with him; it took every bit of their strength to hold it down the entire trip. Upon arrival, a short battle ensued and they had to subdue it again with endless amounts of ammunition and a truck load of tranquilizers. But things were back under control again and they finally had the beast contained in the criotank. Mengsk stood next to the rebel commander and stared at the battered hydralisk floating unconscious in the cell. The powerful neurostim drugs kept Bane in a deep sleep as he healed slowly in the sterilized chemicals of the tank.

"How much longer!" asked Mengsk impatiently, "I want control, Now!" The commander stalked away, getting the attention of the scientists and engineers hovering around the tank with clipboards and gadgets. In a minute, he came back to Mengsk with some sheets of paper containing a rough summary of the scientists' progress and discoveries.

"Height," Began the rebel commander, "9 foot, 11 inches, weight 384 pounds, 12 ounces" the rebel commander whistled sarcastically, "Species is a unique Cerebrate-Hydralisk Hybrid-"

"Just get to the bottom line, Mandelle." Mengsk interrupted. The commander continued after flipping through a few pages,

"The neuroscan is complete and the cloning should commence soon. Once we have the cerebrate clones, we should be able to merge them into your overmind. From there, it's only a matter of time before you can build a formidable Zerg army."

"That's more like it!" Mengsk laughed, rubbing his hands together. "Get me a copy of his genetics, I don't want to lose them now," the emperor demanded. As Mandelle turned and began typing furiously at a keyboard, a marine entered the chamber and brought the emperor a message.

"Sir?" he asked. "What is it! Can't you see I'm busy?" Mengsk snapped irritably.

"Y-Yessir!" stuttered the marine, "The delta squad hasn't reported in for over an hour now, and we haven't been able to raise them on the comsat."

"Very well," Mengsk sighed, "Send someone out to check on them. There's no way that half-dead ghost with no gun could have stopped eight armed marines."

The rebel compound was built into a giant rock wall at the end of the canyon, where a water fall had once thundered over the cliffs high above. A single, great blast door was all that guarded the entrance-no armed guards, no siege tanks, and thankfully-no detectors.

"I sense no threat-it is safe." The templar said next to me. I heard the others' quick words of agreement and we stepped out of our cover behind a giant boulder. My cloak inhibitor had partially recharged and I turned it on as we got closer to the entrance. The door itself was huge-like nothing I had ever seen before. The steel was immeasurably thick and the door was so wide and tall you could have maneuvered a hovering command center through it. A large, covered light was glowing red above the door, indicating that it was locked up tight. I realized, suddenly, that this was one of those fallout shelters built long ago during the Nuclear Wars.

"This is your technology, Terran. How do we get inside?" asked one of the templar, tapping the thick steel with one fist.

"Look around for a control panel," was all I could say. We walked back and forth in front of the door and even down the sides of the compound to the edge of the rock walls. Nothing. We regrouped in front of the door.

"It must be opened from the inside," I finally announced with a tone of defeat. Just as I finished my sentence the big light above the door suddenly switched colors, changing to an aged hue of green. A red, rotating lighted started spinning and the canyon seemed to split open as the door slowly opened. The dark templar and I moved to the edge of the door, waiting to see what would happen. As the door crawled up, the sound of machines buzzing and people talking drifted outside.

"As soon as you find out what those idiots are up to, give me a call!" boomed a gruff voice. Another voice called back with the sounds of a vulture engine revving to life,

"Shut up, Joey! I'll be right back."

"Now is our chance, GO!" came the psychic message behind me. The vulture zoomed out of the door, a plume of dust rising in its wake as it took off up the canyon. We ducked inside as the door started to close again, the morning sun disappearing behind the steel and rock wall. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I could take a look around. The room we were in was like a scrap yard. Pieces and parts of siege tanks, dropships, wraiths and vultures were everywhere. A few greasy mechanics were huddled over an unfamiliar looking piece of equipment and three more ran SCV's, welding frames for what looked to be a pair of tanks. Two marines guarded the door that led into the rest of the compound. A small, boxy devise was mounted above the door-a detector. We were at the other side of the room, but couldn't move near the door without being seen. Watching the noisy SCV's grind away on the frames, I got an idea. I whipped the guass rifle up and took the best aim I could manage with the clumsy sights. Wishing I had a nice, silenced canister rifle with a zooming scope, I squeezed the trigger gently, firing a single round at the cloak sensor mounted above the door. The rifle responded with a healthy "BLAM!" and the impaler round found its target, shattering the box off the ceiling. The marines jumped and turned around, looking at the detector laying in the hallway in pieces,

"Oh shit!" I heard one of them say.

"Let's go," I said quickly and the Templar followed me through the large hangar to the door. One marine had run to a panel on the wall and was calling for backup, the other was in the hallway, sweeping his gun left and right nervously. I was just going to walk right by the them but the templar didn't want to take any chances. I heard a psionic blade crackle to life and a muffled gargle soon followed, and then another as the templar dispatched both the guards. I turned and they followed me down the hall which widened into a huge vaulted room divided by glass cubicles with tables covered by chemistry equipment and computers. I even noticed a few huge criotanks in the corners. Scientists in white lab coats worked behind the tables; marines were among them, pacing around with guns at the ready. A Templar had wandered over to one of the criotanks and peered through the green glass,

"Adun, what foul plot is this!" He got everyone's attention and soon we were all standing amongst the scientists who gawked at the creature inside and watched the instrument panels spout numbers. I squinted through the translucent tube and gasped at what I saw. It was one of the cerebrates that controlled the Zerg. It looked like a fat, slimy worm floating in dirty water to me, but what it meant was terrible. If Mengsk could clone cerebrates, there would be no end to his control over the swarms and he would completely dominate the sector with two armies at his command.

"This cannot be allowed..." said one of the templar, reactivating his blade. The other templar agreed and I backed up a little, eyeing the marines that patrolled the room amongst the scientists. The criotank was bubbling away, incubating the growing cerebrate when the closest templar ripped the machine wide open with his blade of light. The water inside gushed out onto the floor and the templar began decimating the computers and smashing the glass tubes of chemicals off the tables. The scientists yelled and fled as the criotank sparked and burst into flames, and the marines came pouring in from everywhere. The dark templar moved through the confused ranks of the marines and began cutting them down, one by one. The marines fired in all directions, and the dark templar's blue plasma shields appeared and vanished again as they absorbed the bullets. But once they were shot and visible for a split second, more marines would take up the target, making them all the more visible. It was chaos; guns were going off and echoing loudly off the rock walls and marines were yelling orders and screaming in pain when they let a dark templar get too close. The marines' numbers started to dwindle until the sounds of heavy boots pounding on rock floors could be heard through the gunfire and screams. Firebats emerged by the pair from a central door at the other end of the room, charging for the Dark templar. It was here I thought about making my escape and finding Bane amidst the chaos. I took a quick glance at the Templar surrounded by hostile terrans and turned on the scene to find Bane, running through the biggest door in sight. Jogging down the hallway, I hoped my sense of direction was right. Bane would require only the largest of passages, so the large hallway looked reassuring as it flashed by. When I came abruptly to another glass wall, with a thick, air-tight glass door, I tried to peer through the glass, but the wire netting running through it distorted the view. Trying the handle, and finding it locked, I used my guass rifle to blow the glass out of the door. It was bulletproof, so it took nearly the rest of my clip to blow a hole in it large enough for my hand. I reached through and opened the door from the inside, kicking the glass shards out of my way as I walked in. Just as the door shut behind me, the glass wall exploded. Marines jumped up from hiding spots behind tables, gunning at the invisible intruder that just walked in. I dove, landing hard on my stomach on the other side of the hall as bullets whizzed by, clipping the walls and shattering the glass behind me. I crawled forward, until I was out of the line of fire some, and began returning fire, pelting marines as they stood up to make their shots. A marine yelled as he went down in my hail of bullets and I heard a familiar voice. The emperor shot past the marines to a door at the other end of the room, yelling for the marines to follow him. They fired fiercely down the hall, keeping me behind cover until the last one had filed through the door after Mengsk, and then the door slammed shut with a metallic clang. The sudden silence was odd, even the battle outside had died down some. I got up carefully and walked over to the large tank in the center of the room. This tank was clear-I could see right through it: a hydralisk was floating inside with a breather over its mouth. It was huge, it filled the tank, and had long, deadly scythes that hung motionlessly by its sides. This was definitely Bane. Just as I lifted my rifle up to blast the glass out of the criotank, a cold hand grabbed the back of my neck, lifting me off my feet. An angry psionic voice pierced my mind,

"I warned you before! You left us to die so you could save the impure one, now you shall share his fate!" The templar slung me backwards against a table, knocking the glass tubes and bottles onto the floor. I yelled as I hit the table and fired my rifle at him, even though he still had a tight grip on my throat. The bullets pelted his plasma shield and he activated his blade, slashing the weapon in two. It fell out of my hands in pieces and I yelped as he held the blade at my throat. Whether it was the drugs wearing off, or my desperate cry that woke Bane, I would never know. But wake he did as I saw him over the shoulder of the templar. His eyes snapped open and the breather came off his mouth with a spray off bubbles as the water muffled his outraged snarl. Just as death was so close I could feel the heat of the modified blade, Bane reared both scythes back and shattered the walls of his glass prison. The liquid inside gushed out onto the floor, sweeping the templar off his feet. He fell over backwards and dropped me on the stone as Bane came through the glass, jumping to the floor, growling angrily. I rolled away from the templar and got to my feet, coughing from the templar's grip on my throat. The Protoss nearly missed being impaled to the floor as Bane lunged for a stab at the enemy. He rolled to his feet, but was covered in the wet chemicals of the criotank, and the clinging liquid made cloaking inaffective. They went at each other and the templar's psionic cry of surprise cracked the air as the hydralisk took a wicked slash to the shoulder and kept coming. Bane overpowered the smaller enemy, smashing him around, draining his plasma shields. The templar stumbled back from the attacks and Bane lunged in, swinging a scythe wide. The blue plasma shield flashed, lighting the room in crackling protest as the templar was knocked to the floor from the blow. He practically slid into the criotank and Bane lunged for the kill.

"STOP!" I yelled, and Bane pinned the templar by the throat instead of disemboweling him,

"Why should this...Protoss live!" Bane snapped. The templar's eye's glowed fiercely, but he couldn't move or it would have been the last thing he ever did.

"Because," I said calmly, "If it wasn't for them I would be dead, they deserve the same in return." Bane growled in his opponents face, and the templar returned his death cold stare a minute before Bane shoved him and let go. The templar got up slowly and shut his psionic blade down. I continued,

"And we may need all the help we can get, it was too easy getting in here. Were are all the troops from the-" Right on cue, the sounds of gunfire and explosions echoed suddenly from the other room.

To Be Continued...


	8. Bane 8: Bad Gets Worse

"We can escape through the back door," I said hastily as the sounds grew.

"Not without my brethren," interrupted the dark templar, taking off before I could say anything else. I watched the fleeting templar open his psionic blade and disappear around the corner, past the broken glass wall and sighed,

"Let's go help him."

"Yes, let us go," Bane growled, following me as I took off, scooping up the barrel of my broken guass rifle.

"I wouldn't have guessed you would be so quick to help a protoss," I said over my shoulder as we covered the short distance down the hall.

"I'm not thrilled about it, but I owe the dominion marines a little favor for that ambush." Stepping through the busted frame of the old glass wall, I checked the energy on my cloak inhibitor: 22 units of power. I would be cutting it close again. I rounded the last corner and gasped at the scene before me. The marines were flooding in, surrounding the protoss. There were originally 4 dark templar standing and fighting, but two had fallen under the extreme hail of bullets that spewed from the mob of soldiers. The two were slumped down against the wall, trying to stop the flow of blue blood from their wounds. The other two were nobly defending their fallen comrades, holding the whole squad back with whirling psionic blades. They took down marines by the pair but it wasn't fast enough. The guass rifles chattered and the templar became visible as their blue shields were pelted again and again. One templar loosed a psionic scream as its shields gave under the raining bullets. I charged into the room and Bane was on my heels, snarling in challenge to the marines.

The marines had almost won, the Protoss were finally going down but a blood curdling snarl came from behind them. They turned from the templar, a deadly mistake, and attempted to stop the beast that raged toward them. I dove before they let their rifles rip, tackling a marine to the ground as they shot Bane. The marine fell and I knocked him senseless with the barrel of my old gun, jerking the guass rifle out of his hands. The bullets only slowed Bane's momentum a little and he hit the marines at a run. One was sent sailing into the air, falling down again on top of his friends as Bane slashed and maimed them. Pieces of armor and power suits flew like woodchips as I stood up and blasted a marine with my new weapon, gunning him until he screamed and dropped to his knees. Bane turned with a wicked swing, impaling one of the slow ones and throwing him forward again. He slid across the floor and someone tripped over the body, so I blasted the unfortunate one while he was down. Bane swung again, smashing a rifle, snapping the holders arm just above the wrist. The marine yelled and held his arm, and Bane batted him out of the way, and slashed at another one. The sizzling psionic blade of the templar never stopped as he fought the other side of the squad, always spinning and whirling in graceful attacks that slashed faces and parted the man-made armor, ripping through to the flesh inside. A little buzzer went off in my ear and my hands on the guass rifle I was aiming suddenly faded into view in my eyes.

"Uh-oh!" I said and took three big steps back, diving behind one of the lab tables as the marines tried to fire at me. It was a welcome distraction to Bane and he uppercutted another marine, his scythes getting stuck in his throat. Bane threw his scythe to the left, taking the marine with it and he smashed him headlong into another one that had turned and fired at me. The remaining marines started stepping back, actively retreating as one of them in the rear sent a message through his head set.

"The subject has escaped!! Repeat, the subject has escaped! We are under attack by it and an unknown number of Templar warriors! Requesting immediate back-" He stopped short as I popped out of cover long enough to blast his face full of holes. They backpedaled firing but Bane caught up with them, impaling a straggler while the rest turned, running back out the door. The panting templar, bleeding from more than one bullet wound, shut down his psionic blade and leaned against the wall,

"You..saved us...why?" It was the one that had attacked me and Bane.

"Don't get used to it," Bane said quickly, shrugging off the templar's appreciation. I picked up a few guass clips from the fallen marines and, noticing Bane was almost covered in blood, I said, "You're hurt-"

Bane interrupted me, "Don't worry, it's not mine." His wide hydralisk grin showed a little through the blood spattered across his face. Then, more foot steps echoed from the entrance, and I suddenly remembered,

"A marine had called for backup, we gotta get out of here!" The templar nodded and ran to his brethren,

"They cannot walk, they need our help!" One of them winched and managed to stand on his own, but the other two could barely speak, much less move. The last templar picked one of his comrades up, carrying him on his shoulders,

"We will leave them here to die, they fought bravely for Auir in countless battles-"

"Don't talk," I sighed, grabbing one of the last templar's wrists, "Move!" The injured one helped me drag him away from the wall and we started making our way back into the room were I found Bane, headed for the back door. Bane hadn't moved at all and I called out to him,

"Common, they're coming!" It was true, I could see the shadows of bulky power suits lumbering in through the door.

"Let's go, Bane!" I yelled again as we reached the hallway. He gave me a quick look over his shoulder "Get them to safety, mortal, Its only marines-I'll hold them off." I just groaned and pulled with the templar, dragging the injured ones to safety around the corner.

Bane watched the shadows as they entered the light of the laboratory. The mob of firebats burst in and stopped abruptly, sliding to a stop at the sight of the ten foot monster growling before them. Bane noticed that something was different about these marines. They had beefed up power suits, but they lacked the boxy, pointed machines that belched lead shards and he thought,

"This is going to be easy, they don't have guns!" Then he lunged for the easy kills.

"Let's cook!" One of the firebats finally stammered as the beast drew near. The hydralisk wailed in pain and surprise as the marine in from off him suddenly started spewing fire, practically sliding into the flames as he tried to stop. The firebats changed formations, surrounding him. Bane growled in rage as the flaming napalm stuck to his carapace like thick syrup, and he lunged for the nearest firebat, trying to stop the onslaught of fiery pain. One of the firebats laughed as the creature stumbled and writhed in the fire, but yelled as it suddenly changed direction and came straight for him. Bane impaled the firebat, lifting him high off his feet and smashing him down again against the rock floor; the napalm storage tanks on his back splitting open. The hydralisk vanished in a blazing inferno as the firebat's tanks blew up on impact, spreading napalm everywhere.

A red flash strobed on the walls and a dull explosion followed as I helped the templar drag his friend to safety. The one carrying the other on his shoulder set him down against the wall and came to help us. We pulled him up by his friend and I said,

"Bane needs help." The templar strained, dragging his friend into a sitting position and giving quick orders to the only conscious templar left.

"Let's go," he said after saying something I couldn't overhear to the other templar. I turned, jogging back down the hallway with the only dark templar left fighting right behind me.

Bane roared in terrible agony as his carapace finally heated up and burst into flames beneath the firebat's attack. One was down but the remaining three closed in, concentrating their flame throwers on the monster. Bane's view was blotted out by the fiery light and he swung his scythes wildly, trying to stop the torture. The flaming blades whiffed through the air, and the firebats grinned, sidestepping the blind attack easily, but one of them stumbled forward as the thin air shoved him. The firebat fumbled into the swing and Bane cloths lined him onto the floor. The hydralisk snarled in rage and ripped at the firebat with both scythes, wildly stabbing at the thick armor. Another firebat yelled as his back was pelted with impaler rounds, and he turned and started coming for me. I laid into the trigger and the bullets rained on the firebat, shredding the armor away. The last firebat finally stopped roasting Bane and spun on his heels, trying to catch up with his comrade. The dark templar activated his psionic blade and intercepted him, swatting the firebat with it in one incredibly quick motion. So fast, the firebat didn't even know why he crumpled forward on his knees and fell to his face until it was too late. The last one got right up to me, but weaved in the hail of bullets, only managing a tiny spurt of harmless flame before falling over backwards. We ran to help the flaming hydralisk, who still blindly hacked at his enemy. The firebat rolled around in futile attempts to get away and Bane swung at just the wrong moment. His scythe clipped the firebat's tank and he was engulfed in a second explosion. The ball of fire rose to the ceiling and vanished in a cloud of sooty smoke, but Bane was still ablaze. The beast screamed in panic and still swung its scythes around wildly, still trying to put the fire out.

"The criotanks! Hurry!" I yelled to him and he zigzagged in the general direction of it. He snarled as he ran face first into the rock wall next to it and fell over backwards, starting to crackle and pop in the flames. "Help him!!" I barked at the templar standing next to me. He ran over to the hydralisk and grunted with the effort of picking Bane by the shoulders and shoving him backwards against the Criotank. The dark templar winched as his plasma shields flashed, the flames wrapped around his hands and Bane growled with the impact of being smashed through the glass of the cell. The liquid inside gushed out over Bane, soaking them both with the soupy stuff inside. Bane sputtered and coughed for a second in the torrent and violently shoved the templar backwards,

"I didn't need YOUR help!!" Bane snarled coldly. The templar stumbled back but managed to stay on foot,

"I just owed it to you from earlier, don't get used to it," he said in a mocking tone.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance!" Bane raged back. The templar crossed his arms and retaliated calmly, his slitted eyes glowing fiercely,

"And I should have left you to burn." Bane started growling menacingly and the templar's warp blade crackled to life from his hand,

"You wanna finish this, you blood-thirsty abombmination?!" he said, louder this time.

"I'LL RIP YOU APART!!" Bane roared and lunged forward.

"ENOUGH!!" I yelled, stepping between them as they leapt at each other. They both stopped short on either side of me, glowering into each others' faces, even though the templar had to look up slightly at Bane's. Along with a verbal growl, Bane's voice rumbled into my mind,

"Get out of the way, mortal."

"Yes, step aside, Terran-" came the threat from the templar behind me, along with the crackling sound of his modified psionic blade. Bane looked up abruptly and snapped at the templar,

"I still don't need your help, you Protoss piece of-"

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" I interrupted them before they could start again. "I know you Protoss and Zerg have your major differences," I said between pants, "But let's not get out of hand here. The dominion forces and the rebels will probably swarm in here by the shipload any minute now, and we have to work together!" They still growled at each other, but slowly backed away.

"Now I'm covered in this crap again!" Bane complained, whipping his scythes in the air angrily, flinging the liquid off.

"What's the matter? You were floating in it earlier," I laughed. Banes grin came back again and the templar's eyes didn't glow as intensely. The hostile atmosphere finally broke, but we didn't get much time to enjoy it. More shouts and foot steps came from the entrance, but a new sound accompanied it. There was a steady marching of solid clangs-the tell tale sound of a goliath war walker squad stomping in.

"Time to go!" I said. The templar shut his blade down,

"We'll finish this later." Bane turned with us and we started moving towards the back room again,

"Indeed we shall," he replied and we took off. The auto cannon bullets started bouncing off the walls around us as we got to the hallway and turned down it. I looked back for a split second, spying more goliaths than I could count flooding in the room behind us. They lumbered in, searching the laboratory and we lost sight of them as we turned the next corner and went through the shattered glass air lock yet again.

The injured templar was in the hall, doing what he could to patch up the other two.

"Can they walk yet?" I asked as we got close. One of them used the wall as a prop and got to his feet,

"We can't fight, but we can run." Bane stopped, guarding the hallway. His carapace was so charred it had changed color to a dark charcoal black and had so many chips blown out of it from the impaler rounds that it made a pattern. The Templar didn't look much better, they all had dark blue stains in their Khala robes from their wounds. The incredibly durable anatomy of both the alien species never ceases to amaze me; it even makes me wonder how we Terrans ever got as far as we have here in the harsh environment of the fringe worlds.

"Alright, then lets get moving. Mengsk and his body guards left through that back door, so there must be a second way out of here." The goliaths metal feet could be heard pounding up the hallway, time was running out. In three steps I was at the door and I tried the big iron handle. No good, I should have known it wouldn't be open. Bane noticed my difficulty and was already coming to assist me in picking the lock and the crippled dark templar hauled themselves to the door behind him. Suddenly, one of them sent us all a psychic warning as he spotted the cockpit of a goliath appear at the edge of the hallway, "Take cover!" Then the enemies flooded in on us. Bane impaled the door, struggling only a little, mangling the thick steel hatch off its hinges as the goliaths poured in with auto cannons blazing. I dove to the right, behind the criotank's steel base, and the dark templar pulled their brethren back to the left. Bane growled as the goliaths pelted the only visible target. He gave his scythes a jerk, and his left one tore free of the door, but the other was caught in the iron latch. I leaned out of hiding long enough to bother one of the goliaths with my puny guass rifle. It riddled holes in the tough armor, but it wasn't even enough to slow them down. Their pivoting cockpits turned and I ducked back behind the metal base as the goliaths' high caliber rounds swept across the room and eroded what was left of the criotank. Bane heaved his right scythe one last time, splitting the hinges and taking the door with it. The goliaths heard the crash of the hatch coming off the rock wall and swiveled around again, their automatic chain guns rumbling back across the room. Bane shook his scythe hastily, trying in vain to free it from the thick door, and the bullets began to pelt his carapace. He growled, hefting the steel door stuck on his right scythe as a shield against the stream of shells. The powerful rounds sparked and flashed off of the metal surface. Bane held the door upright against the barrage, motioning to the templar with the other scythe. They got the idea. All you could see of the injured templar slipping by Bane into the doorway was flashes of blue plasma shields as they caught stray bullets from the goliaths. But that same one stopped again, behind Bane and his shield, and activated his warp blade. It crackled to life, and the templar nodded to the noble hydralisk. Bane's grin showed through the charred carapace, and they dove into battle.

Bane snarled, surging against the bullets with all his strength. The goliath pilots fired so many shots that the showering sparks from the door lit the room in brilliant flashes that matched the flares of the auto cannon barrels themselves. Bane lunged when he got near, smashing one of the mechanical war walkers with his momentum. The machine split in half from the impact, and Bane came over the top of the crumpled goliath, hurling his right scythe into another armored enemy at his flank. The dark templar dove from the left of the hydralisk, sinking his warp blade into one of the clumsy terran machines. The bullets rained on Bane again, but in close quarters, its just as hard to shoot the enemy as trying not to shoot your own allies. Bullets sprayed in all directions as the goliath operators panicked. Bane smashed his free scythe through the windshield of another cockpit, and the pilot's scream cracked the air. The templar turned with his psionic blade whirling as it flashed through a goliath effortlessly, apparently with no recoil from the impact. The blade passed smoothly though the machine's riveted armor and hydraulic fluid fountained out. It sparked on the torn electronics, bursting into flames and the blue blades spun again burning through the reinforced steel of another goliath's legs. The machines toppled over and with a final angry snarl, Bane swung his right scythe back to the left, smashing the door against the frame of another nearby goliath. His blade broke free and he happily swung again with his other scythe, aiming low and knocking the machine off it's clumsy metal feet by chopping one of its legs. The goliath toppled over, it's legs buckling beneath the impact of the attack and the shining blade of the dark templar flashed again and again, parting the man made armors easily. They were causing such distress in the ranks of the goliaths that I had chances to lean out of cover and spray a few shots into the mob of enemies before they turned on me again. This would distract them and the hydralisk and the templar would rip into them with new waves of enthusiasm. Every time I leaned out, fewer and fewer goliaths were left standing against the rouge hydralisk and his invisible ally. Just when it started to look like we may win, a high pitched chime split the air, giving away the enemies sensor sweep. The rotating torso's of the 5 remaining goliaths shifted abruptly to the left, taking aim at the protoss that was suddenly visible amongst them. The chain guns blared and the dark templar's shields flashed for a brief moment, absorbing the insane hail of bullets for a few seconds before going out. Bane turned around as he saw the flashes from the corners of his eyes and spotted the templar stumbling backwards from multiple rounds. With a single bound of his augment, Bane was between the templar and the goliaths again, taking the punishment of their shots with his armored carapace. The templar's body was a mass of blood-stained robes as he fell, hitting the rock floor with a dull thud. Bane growled in rage beneath the attacks and charged against the stream of bullets, diving into the nearest machine with both scythes ready. Bane hit the goliath at a dead run, almost, and pieces of the cockpit flew in all directions. His momentum carried him and the goliath into the one behind it and them into the one behind that, so Bane ended up tackling three goliaths to the floor, roaring and ripping with his scythes as they fell. The two remaining goliaths could only stand back and fire helplessly into the twisted ball of beast and machine. Bane's scythes could be seen rising and falling, and rising again in a flurry of stabbing attacks. The stack of machinery suddenly burst into flames from a ruptured fuel line and the two by standing goliaths took a step back from the fireball that erupted from the massacre. Bane leapt free of the flames, impaling the nearest goliath with both scythes. Despite being shorter than the machines, Bane lifted the his torn enemy off its feet, snarling through the glass window of the cockpit at the pilot. The only goliath left standing, on its own feet anyway, tried vainly to help his friend by blasting the terrible monster with its auto cannons one last time. Bane flinched and growled from the bullets as they bounced off his carapace, and heaved the lifeless machine to one side. I could hear the pilot croak into his headset as he turned and ran, retreating from a hail of needle spines spraying from the one enemy that had taken down his whole squad single handedly,

"To hell with the army!! I'm outta here! That college money ain't worth this!" Bane closed his sore chest cavity slowly as the cowardly goliath trudged back down the hall and around the corner again. I stood up, running over to him quickly. I slowed down as I got close and the seriousness of the wounds could be seen. He was bleeding from everywhere, particularly from where some of the auto cannon bullets punched through. Blood ran down his augment to the floor in streams and it dripped from his drooping scythes like a leaky faucet. He still had a rasping growl in his throat that he couldn't stop; the adrenaline-rage from attacking still had him. The thick red liquid even ran out from the corners of his mouth, seeping out between the jagged teeth.

"Holy shit! Will you be okay until we can find a medic?" I asked worriedly.

"It's not me you should be worried about, check on him." Bane said, pointing to the Dark Templar sprawled across the floor behind him. I ran up to the protoss, kneeling down so I could inspect more closely. He had several entry wounds to the chest, and I didn't dare turn him over to look at his back to see if the bullets had come through the other side, I already knew it was too gruesome to see without becoming sick to your stomach.

"This is fatal," I said in a sad tone, looking up at Bane. He stood over us, staring down at his red blood mixing with the blue puddle that spread from the templar.

"What can we do?" I asked out loud, beginning to panic. "What can we-"

"Go.." came the psionic message, interrupting my rambling. I looked down and the templar's eyes were open again, they glowed faintly with each word,

"They are coming, they come to stop you..." now the words seemed to strangle themselves forth, barely distinguishable over the snapping and popping of my own thoughts, and the light in the templars eyes faded with each syllable,

"I know now..the creature is not our enemy, my brethren were wrong..it is fortunate that you stopped us,"

"What are you trying to say?" I asked hastily so he could speak again.

"..Your emperor..the evil ruler...he will try to control an evil even greater than himself..."

"Common!" I yelled, "Spill the beans before you croak!" The light faded from the wide orbs of his eyes, growing weaker every second,

"..It will destroy us all-you can still stop it...you must.." The templar raised one hand, his three fingers opening and closing in a fist involuntarily,

"...you...must..." then the tiny flicker of life blinked out, and the hand dropped abruptly. I sighed, reaching up and closing the Templar's eyes with two fingers,

"I hate it when that happens." Bane watched the templar die without blinking,

"He was a noble warrior, one that didn't deserve to die like this, in this place." I stood up, slinging the guass rifle over my shoulder, shaking my head as I looked down at the body of the slain protoss,

"You wanted to rip him into pieces earlier. Why the sudden change of heart?" I stepped past the templar into the doorway and Bane followed me,

"Fighting along side your enemy, one learns to become allies."

"We can't attack the protoss! That wasn't part of the deal!" Mandelle exploded as he followed Mengsk into his office. The two marines at the door stepped hastily out of the way as Mengsk shoved his way through the double doors with the rebel commander at his heals. Mengsk didn't say anything until he dropped casually into his chair and pulled a fat cigar out of his desk, lighting it with a wooden match from the same drawer. He puffed on the stogy and regarded the red-faced general with his crooked politician smile,

"Mandelle," Mengsk finally sighed with a false tone of surprise, "what's the matter, my friend?" The rebel commander slammed his fist on Mengsk's desk,

"I didn't authorize the attack on the protoss forces!! I may be answering to you, but I retain the command of my own army-you gave them an order without consulting me first!" The emperor looked shocked,

"Robert, I have no idea what you're talking-"

"LIES!!" interrupted Mandelle. Suddenly, the speaker box on Mengsk's desk crackled to life,

"Sir, subjects in prefect crio stasis. Awaiting your orders to merge them," Mengsk reached forward, calmly pressing a button on the speaker,

"Thank you, Philis, tell them to merge the cerebrates." The rebel commander's eyes grew wide as he overheard the message and he stammered,

"And you're cloning cerebrates under my nose too?! I want the truth!!" Mengsk sighed again, leaning back in his chair,

"You see Mandelle, the truth is that I used you to bring the rebel uprising to a halt. I used you to capture the cerebrate long enough to get a copy of its genetic coding, and I will now use your troops to hold off the protoss fleets long enough for my army to be built. I used you just like I used that kid and his pet zerg." Mengsk leaned forward again, taking something boxy and metallic from his desk drawer and leaning back again,

"This is all too convenient for me! I get three deals for the price of one: I have a new army, the rebels will be stopped-permanently with the help of the protoss fleets, and then I will crush whatever's left with both the terran and zerg armies at my command." Mandelle only managed three steps to the door before several blasts of Mengsk's sidearm cracked the still silence of the office. The two marine guards rushed in,

"Everything okay in here sir?" One of them asked. "No," Mengsk barked, pointing to the body of the rebel commander laying in front of his desk. "Get this scum out of here and send somebody to clean the stain up immediately-This rug is very expensive."

We couldn't find the other dark templar anywhere in the dark corridor. The back door led to nothing more than a crude tunnel through the rock wall. There were no lights, so once we got past the first corner, I had to let Bane lead because I didn't bring the expensive goggles from Mengsk's arsenal with me this time. We twisted down a narrow tunnel and I didn't see Bane come to a sudden stop front of me. I ran into his back and stepped on his tail.

"Watch it!" he said in front of me. "It's not my fault you stopped." I said defensively.

"And it's not my fault terrans can't see in the dark," he retaliated. I laughed and tried to remember how pointless it was to argue with a Bane.

"Why did you stop, anyway?" I asked.

"The tunnel ends and there's a door here," Bane said simply.

"Then do your stuff." I replied. The light blinded my eyes as Bane snarled, smashing the door off the hinges. The hydralisk stepped out and I followed it into the afternoon sun. I heard gravel crunching beneath my booted feet and my eyes adjusted to the bright light of mid day.

"Watch your step," Bane warned and I looked down, gasping at the 200 foot drop only a yard in front of me. The tunnel came out at the other side of the compound, leading to a trail that had been carved into the stone wall ages ago. It was a narrow path winding down the plateau at the edge of the canyon into the dessert below. The view was incredible, but the terrible scene that covered it wasn't. From our high point of view, we could see two armies set on the verge of battle. On the left side was a Terran armada. Bunkers mixed in with missile turrets were lined up in rows as far as we could see. Siege tanks were behind the bunkers, aiming out to the south east were an entire protoss fleet had erected a front line to match the Terrans'. Fields of Photon cannons were lined up just outside the siege tanks range, with reavers and high templar holding positions, backing the cannon defenses. Both sides had arsenals of ground units and air units ready for the fight. Firebats, goliaths and medics were in tight formations behind the bunkers, with squads of wraiths and valkalries hovering overhead. On the other side, stalwart mobs of zealots stood with their psionic blades ready behind the photon cannons. Dragoons bobbed up and down behind them on their mechanical legs. A single ship coasted in over the army, and the zealots and dragoons vanished. A single glare of light came from the ship and blue warp fields suddenly materialized over the protoss side. Eight mighty carriers and another arbiter flashed into existence over the army and took on color and detail as the warp fields faded. We could only get a glimpse of the majestic carriers as they were enveloped in the arbiters' cloak. More warp fields crackled to life as legions of scouts and corsairs emerged with shuttles of reinforcements in tow. The protoss weren't the only ones receiving extra help. Dropships began gleaming on the horizon by the flock, hailing in countless marines and vultures. Science vessels scooted over the crowd of infantry leading a fleet of the awesome battle cruisers to the front lines. The mighty Yamato cannon mounted on the front of each one made the siege tanks' barrels look like twigs. I closed my mouth, I hadn't realized it was hanging open, and Bane spoke up in a tone of awe,

"...I hate machines..."

To Be Continued...


	9. Bane 9: Calm Before The Storm

A fleet of twelve wraiths flew in formation, low over the city. Their engines screamed through the sky as they closed ranks for the transfer, gliding to a smooth, hovering stop, lined up on either side of a wide steel door on the side of the Capitol Building.Inside, Mengsk Strode down the hallway behind a flock of scientists with an equal sized mob of marines following him. They came to a last door in the hallway and the pair of MP's guarding the entrance used their access cards to unlock the main shipping bay for the personnel. The herd of white lab coats flowed under the wide door when it came up with a whirring of electric motors. The bay was a long room with a huge steel door in the middle. Two dropships hovered inches off the floor as a huge crew hastily prepared the ships. The wraith engines could be heard through the cement walls as SCV's constructed a cage for the fledgling overmind. It was stable enough to be taken out of the criotank, and was holding up well behind the thick steel bars. It was like a giant, sticky cocoon-nearly big enough to fill a small swimming pool. About two hours ago, it began growing and evolving into its mature form at a geometric rate and this was something Mengsk hadn't counted on. The Overmind, once fully developed, would be far to large for any room in the city, much less the capitol building. So, before it was too big to transport, he decided to have it moved to a secure location outside the city. The hydraulic motors of 8 space construction vehicles whined as they hefted the cage, and the overmind, into the back of the modified dropship-the rear cargo hatch had to be enlarged by six feet on the sides and three feet on top. Mengsk studied the SCV's hard at work and turned to one of the jabbering scientists,

"I want full control of it, some of you egg heads go with them just in case you need to tweak something." The emperor studied the pulsing blob inside the cage as the SCV's backed away and the door on the dropship slowly slid shut.

"What if it grows during flight?" Mengsk asked. The same scientist he had talked to earlier spoke up,

"That's what the cage is for, It should keep it down to size until they reach the drop zone." Mengsk nodded,

"I want the escort on full alert, I don't want another ship in the air within a hundred miles." Another SCV entered the docking bay from the main door, carrying a smaller cage, with a flat, crab-like thing inside. It was motionless on the bottom of the cage, still unconscious from the powerful neurostim drugs. Not much bigger than a lawn mower, the drone fit inside the second dropship with ease. The SCV backed out and three scientists with four medic assistants gingerly walked up the rough metal ramp. Marines came from the sides, hauling in bags of equipment and dumping them at the feet of the scientists sitting inside the ship. One of them hit a switch and the ramp swung shut. Both ships' engines whined up to speed and the huge door clicked up inch by inch. Sunlight streamed in under the door as Mengsk turned to leave, the remaining scientists following at his heels,

"Are the cerebrates stable?" he asked without breaking his stride. One of the gangly little scientists jogged to catch up, waving a fat wad of papers and notes.

"Yessir!" he croaked beneath a pair of thick glasses, "The two that weren't used for the merge are in captivity. Psionic emanations are at an all-time high and they should be capable of producing broods in no more than an hour."

"Something doesn't seem right," Bane said, staring at the impeding battle field.

"Of course it isn't right, war never is." I replied.

"I know," the hydralisk stated calmly, "but you Terrans have always seemed to have had a sort of truce with the Protoss. Why would this happen?"

"I don't know, maybe it has something to do with Mengsk and the Zerg," I rambled.

"And where did those other Dark Templar go?" Bane offered another question. I let my guass rifle hang by my side with one hand and I rubbed my weary face with the other,

"I have no idea, they vanished like a fart in the wind." Bane only gave me a confused look, although he winched a little with the effort. "Never mind," I sighed. Then I remembered what the templar had said and everything suddenly starting fitting together,

"Wait!" I snapped, "Before we found you in the rebel complex, the four templar rescued me from Mengsk's soldiers. They explained a lot to me; you're a cerebrate." The ragged hydralisk could only frown and shrug, staring down over the rocky ledge to the armies below. I continued, "The UED controlled the overmind and its cerebrates once, and that's why the rebels and Mengsk are after you." Bane looked up,

"We know that already." I nodded,

"Yeah, but the Protoss were are after you, too." Bane's eyes closed to slits,

"Why?" was all he said.

"From their hints," I stated, recalling the crackling sound of four warp blades, "They know what Mengsk has planned and are here to stop it, even if it means killing you to prevent the swarms from being reborn again." Bane's huge frame heaved with a deep sigh,

"I'm not sure which one is worse."

"And now a war between the Protoss and the Rebels, only a few miles outside of the capitol too-this just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" I added. The hydralisk only stared blankly over my head, toward the city.

"I'm running short on ideas here, do you have any suggestions?" I asked. My battle-torn friend stood perfectly still and silent, gazing off into space.

"Bane?" I asked wearily. His eyes began to glaze over and I reached up, waving my hand back and forth in front of his face. "Bane?! Snap out of it!" I barked. He jumped, almost like he didn't know I was there,

"It lives," the hydralisk finally stammered after shaking his head.

"What?" I asked. Bane shook his head again and his eyes cleared,

"The overmind, its alive-here, on Khorhal!" I did a perfect double take,

"Your kidding! There's no way-"

"It's true," Bane interrupted, "The overmind has been reborn, I can already sense it's will beginning to radiate across the planet." I gripped the handle of my guass rifle like a security blanket,

"Can you tell what its saying yet?"

"Wait a minute," he said, "Didn't you ask me to remind you never to ask the overmind's will again?"

"Just give it a shot, I'll take my chances," I shrugged. The hydralisk didn't make a sound as it concentrated. Then Bane came out of his trance suddenly,

"Their numbers are growing," he said, "I don't think the swarms are large enough for an attack yet, but they're building fast."

"Is Mengsk in control of them?" I blurted. After another few seconds of silence, Bane answered that question as well,

"Yes, he seems to be maintaining a fragile control over the broods for now, but the overmind will outgrow its restraints and attack in a matter of hours."

"Then they'll just be the same old Zerg again, search and slaughter." I finished for him. Bane nodded,

"The way Mengsk is carelessly leading them, they won't have to search long." I groaned and rubbed my face,

"What can we do?" I asked hopelessly. The question echoed down the canyon, resounding off the rock wall, mocking me with my own helplessness. Finally, even the echo faded away and the only sound was from the whistle of the updraft rising up the cliff face and the rumble of the armies far below. My friend finally broke the silence again,

"What about the machines?" he asked irritably. My face lit up,

"Could these armies be enough to stop the-" but as usual, some giant explosion drowned my voice out in mid sentence.

"Not if they kill each other first!" Bane said quickly. We took off down the stone path, and the platoon of siege tanks guarding the eastern flank of bunkers bellowed again with their Arcilite Shock cannons, pounding a squad of zealots aggressively charging the front lines of the Terran fleet. The unbelievable warriors took the explosions head on as 12 sleek Protoss Scouts soared over them, sweeping in and pelting the armored tanks with charged photon blasters. The bunkers flared to life beside the tanks with chattering gauss rifles and the missile turrets halted their endless spinning to spew rockets at the air targets.

"How do you stop a war?" Bane asked over his shoulder as he slithered down the trail in front of me.

"I have no clue," I managed to say while running, "But we have to do something or there will be nothing left to fight the Zerg with and then we'll really be up the creek." The ships flared with their blue plasma shields repeatedly as they took damage and the zealots reached the bunkers and tanks, shredding them in a blind fury with their powerful psionic blades. The buildings began falling apart and catching fire, and the tanks started smoking as the Scouts tore the armored plating away with their air to surface blasters. Two zealots toppled a missile turret, but the Terrans sent reinforcements; eight valkalries rocketed over the barracks and factories from deep in the base and approached the front line, spewing halo missiles. The siege tanks pulled a desperate move to rid themselves of the zealot threat and their barrels swiveled around and fired. The front line exploded as the tanks fired at any zealot outside of their minimal range, despite the fact that those targets were right next to their own allies manning bunkers and other siege tanks. I could hear the psionic screams of the zealots as their blue embers mixed with the red explosions of the bunkers and heavy machinery beside the cliff. A half a dozen tanks and buildings were reduced to no more than piles of smoldering rubble and flaming wreckage as smoke billowed up the cliff by us, leaving a small hole in the Terran lines below. Only four marines had climbed out of the collapsed structures and a siege tank by the bottom of the cliff was on its last legs. Suddenly, its smoking barrel swiveled around, aiming up the cliff face towards us.

"Bane, Stop!" I yelled ahead. We were nearly at the bottom of the trail, only about forty feet up, when the rock suddenly erupted into a fireball in front of the hydralisk as it came to a halt. The deafening explosion rocked my ears and quaked the ground under my feet as the blast blew Bane against the rocky path. He got up snarling, and limped back up were I was, out of range of the siege tank.

"I hate machines!" he growled.

"I don't think the Rebels are going to listen to any explanations you have to offer; the Protoss are the only ones who might not try to kill you right away." I said, squinting in the dust that rained down from the arcilite blast. Bane snarled,

"The Protoss?!"

"Yeah," I coughed, "I might be able to do something about the Terrans-at least they're my species."

"Good point," he shrugged.

"But we have to get by that tank," I said, "And before they send reinforcements and block us in up here." A draft of air blew by as Bane studied the crippled machine keeping our path in his sights and said,

"I can take care of the tank."

"How?" I asked. Bane glanced at the four surviving marines a short distance from the tank and the rest of the Terran army still mustering for an attack.

"This is probably going to hurt," my friend spoke up, "So can you take care of yourself?" Bane pointed toward the guass rifle I held in my hands.

"I don't have much of a choice," I laughed.

"We don't have much time-Just be ready to run when I jump," Bane explained as he backed against the rock wall behind us.

"Jump?!" I barked. Without another word, Bane fairly exploded off the wall, getting a running start. I winched as he reached the edge and pushed off with a growl of effort, leaping out into the open air. Dropping to my knees at the edge of the cliff, I watched him plummet down the rock face. Time seemed to stand still as the hydralisk fell; I counted off nearly seven seconds before he hit the center of the siege tank. It sounded like a car wreck; sending up a plume of red dust and turning pieces of the tracks and plates of armor into flying shrapnel. Not believing what I just let my friend do, I took off at a sprint, heading down the last stretch of rock path to the battlefield below. Quick looks over my shoulder as I ran told me that I had nothing to fear from the siege tank; it was crumpled like an accordion and had already begun smoking, starting to catch fire.

As I approached the bottom of the cliff trail, I could see the crushed siege tank smoking away with the marines closing in to investigate. Before I reached the foot of the trail, one of the marines yelled to his comrades,

"It's him!" I heard the lead soldier bark. One marine began jabbering into his headset, calling for backup as the other three turned with their guass rifles. I dove the last four feet of the trail down to the sand as the bullets whizzed by me, pelting the rocky path I was just on. I flipped on my cloak inhibitor without bothering to look at the power meter as I hit the ground and the marines stopped firing as their target dissolved into thin air, last seen jerking the bolt back on a guass rifle and getting to his feet before vanishing. I threw the rifle up to my shoulder and let the lead marine have a full helping of impaler rounds. He fired a couple stray shots before stumbling backwards and the remaining marines sprayed the rocky sand with their guns. I took off to the left and bullets made a wake in the sand behind me as I circled around the confused marines, reaching the smoldering piles of cement that used to be a row of bunkers. One of the marines croaked into his headset, requesting a sensor sweep as I took aim with the guass rifle again, sending him to the dirt with a hail of rounds from my gun. Suddenly, the chime sound of the enemy scanners could be heard and I was visible once again. The two remaining marines opened up in my direction and I dropped to the sand behind a cracked slab of cement that used to serve as a bunker wall. I winched as the guns chattered and bullets chipped off the wreckage behind me. I heard hydraulic engines and the shouts of soldiers and glanced to my left in time to see the reinforcements arriving in the form of two dozen marines and a squad of goliaths thrown in for good measure. I leaned out to see if I could make a run for it but jerked right back behind cover as the two marines kept me tied up with their guass rifles. I was trapped.

I heard a great snarl and a wrenching of metal, followed by a few desperate gun shots and knew my friend was back in action. Peeking over the slab, I saw Bane's scythes protrude out of the great gash were he fell through the siege tank and he pulled himself free, peeling the metal out of his way. The marines forgot all about their ghost problem and peppered Bane with impaler rounds as he heaved himself free of the shredded machine and charged in, breaking a marine's neck with one staggering swing. His head twisted around the wrong way with the impact and he spun on one heel, falling to the sand as I jumped up, pelting the other marine in the back with everything I had left in my guass rifle clip. He stopped firing and stumbled forward onto the points of Bane's waiting scythes. The hydralisk finished him off and dumped the tattered marine aside, noticing the army closing in over my shoulder,

"Time to go!" he said as the bullets began to pelt the ground around us. I reached down to grab a guass rifle out of the sand from a fallen marine and noticed my cloak had begun working again as the sensor sweep's affect wore off. I called out to Bane as he turned to leave for the Protoss side,

"Good luck." My friend looked back for just a second before taking off,

"Be careful." I was about to say something else, but 5 vultures shot by me so close that I could smell the rank drivers as he they nearly ran me over. I stumbled in the wake of air and watched the army flow around me; they had already come to seal the hole in their front lines. Marines ran by me, marching double-time in formation. Goliaths trudged up and took positions behind siege tanks whom went into siege mode upon reaching the old bunker sites. SCV's scooted in hastily and began setting foundations for new bunkers. The vultures kept going out into the battle field in pursuit of Bane. I grimaced involuntarily; Vultures pack grenade launchers and they were much too fast for a hydralisk's scythes. Suddenly, a lispy voice broke my thought pattern as an SCV swore next to me,

"Damn! This doesn't make sense!" I turned around and the boxy space construction vehicle stood at idle and a marine stepped out of the dozens standing around us, waiting to fill the bunkers.

"What's the problem, man?" the marine barked at the worker.

"Command says to set a turret here but sensors keep telling me that I can't," came the muffled voice from inside the machine. They were already getting detection established; I looked around and other SCV's were replacing the fallen turrets. I took one last look at the plume of dust the vultures had left and started jogging past the marines. Picking up speed as my path cleared, I was careful not to hit the goliaths that stood guarding the rumbling siege tanks. I skid to a stop as a squad of firebats marched right out in front of me, blocking my path.

"Jobs finished!" came the faint messages from all over the front lines behind me as the workers finished their assigned buildings. I eased around the firebats and finally reached a row of supply depos. A bleeping little alarm started going off on my cloak inhibitor and I looked up. A science vessel was approaching from the southern lines, sweeping over the bunkers and tanks behind me. I slipped between the depos as my cloak started to dissipate from the interfering signals of the detector. As I moved deeper into the base to get away from the science vessel, more buildings came into sight. I smiled as I reached the end of the row of supply depos and found myself staring at the covert ops stations of the Terran militia. It was tucked away behind the supply depos with various other technical facilities. I took one last look around the corners of the supply depos; the coast was clear. Taking off at a sprint for the covert ops, I made sure I had a fresh clip in my guass rifle before reaching the thick steel door. I tried the access pad next to the it, but it required a code. I laughed in spite of myself; usually a locked door isn't a problem but Bane wasn't around to open it this time. All I had with me was my guass rifle so I just shrugged tried the only code I knew on the control panel. The impaler rounds blasted the panel and screen into pieces and sparks flew from a couple shorted wires. I jabbed the barrel if the guass rifle into the edge of the door and pried it open. The tip of the barrel bent over, rendering the gun useless, but it had forces the door open nearly an inch. I threw the gun to the dirt and just managed to get a finger hold on the edge of the door and I pulled back on it with everything I had. It barely moved, the dead electric motors of the door whining dully as it slide back another few inches. I jumped to the other side of the door jam and could get my hands behind it. I put my back to the wall and pushed. The door slid back another 5 five inches-It was just barely enough for me to squeeze through. Once inside, I immediately noticed a red alarm rotating on the ceiling announcing that the place had been broken into. I didn't have much time before a truckload of marines showed up so I sprinted through the familiar halls of a standard covert operations facility with a broken guass rifle and 13 points of energy left on my cloak. Plenty of time.

It only took three guesses to find the supply room, but my cloak flickered off as I rounded the last corner. I caught a glimpse of a single marine at his post, guarding the stockade room before I lunged back behind the corner. The marine did a double take and snapped at me, "Hey, you! Stop!!" he yelled and took off down the hall. He reached the corner, rifle held at the ready and I smashed his face with the stock of my gun. He stumbled back against the wall and I kicked him to the floor, picking up his guass rifle and putting the barrel to his forehead, "Get up! Open the supply room!!" I barked. I didn't want to pry open another door. The marine walked slowly over to the hatch and hit a few buttons on the key pad and the door slid open with a hiss. There was another door opposite of the supply room and I commanded him to open it as well. The marine reluctantly did what he was told and I shoved him into the empty briefing room, "Try to keep it down in here," I laughed at him before blowing the panel off of the wall on the inside of the doorway. The marine with a bloody face gave me menacing looks as I stepped into the hall and shut the door from the outside.

The supply room had just what I needed. I found a fresh ghost suit with the militia insignia's on it, along with a fully charged cloak and a new canister rifle. Once I found the helmets and ghost masks, I looked just like any other ghost in the base as I strode out of the supply room and closed the door behind me. I got a little worried when I reached the entrance and saw four marines marching in. An SCV had come and cut the door off and they were investigating the distress alarm. I cleared my throat as they noticed me approaching,

"What's going on here?!" I boomed. The lead marine gave me a confused look and I bellowed again, "Did I stutter, Boy?! What happened here?" He shook his head and stood up straight,

"I-I apologize, Sir, I-" "What it looks like to me, Private, is that you're not doing your job around here!" I interrupted him, trying to sound like I knew what I was doing,

"You are paid to keep this facility safe from intruders, and now this! Who's your commanding officer?!" The marines stood at attention while I barked at them and the lead one snapped out an answer,

"Sir, all orders come straight from the G-General, Sir!"

"Is he still in the war room?! I'd like to tell him about the fine job his marines are doing, letting someone deface military property."

"Y-Yes Sir, the General is still giving briefs for the next attack, Sir!"

"Alright, then." I smiled, and started walking to the door. The marines jumped aside to let me through,

"Clean up your act around here!" I yelled over my shoulder as I strode away towards the command center. Taking off at a sprint, and not believing what I just did, a row of barracks came into view. 8 buildings were lined up in a row with marines marching out into formation. I slowed down and did my best to stroll through like I didn't have a care in the world. It seemed to work, the marines acted like I didn't exist. The command center rose up before me, sitting amongst four missile turrets and I jogged up to the door. No one was standing outside so I tried the thick steel handle. For once the door wasn't locked. I sighed and stepped inside as the door slid open. My eyes adjusted to the dimmer light as the door slammed shut behind me and two marines came into focus.

"What's your business here, psychic freak?" One of them said.

"I'm here to speak to the General," I replied simply.

"We didn't hear about it." the other one gruffed back. I hit the button on my cloak inhibitor,

"Then you won't see it either," I said as I disappeared, shoving a one of them out of my way. He hit the floor hard and I took off, hoping I would find the right room first this time. I heard the shouts and the footsteps of the marines always just around the corner as I came to the back door of the briefing room and burst in, turning my cloak back off again at the same time. It was a small room with a table and a hologram in the center. Someone important looking was in front of me and seven other officers sat around the table facing him. There were marines posted at all corners of the room and they quickly trained their guass rifles on me as soon as I flipped the barrel of my canister rifle to the General's back.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion, and the gun-to-the-back thing, General, but I have some important matters to discuss with you," I said through the muffling ghost mask.

The rocky ground flashed by below Bane as he slithered toward the shining pylons and photon cannons in distance. He changed directions, angling off to the left as an explosion rocked the ground in the path he was just taking a moment before. The vultures had caught up with him and were in closing in fast, gliding only a foot off the ground and gaining at incredible speeds. Bane growled as something small and solid hit him in the back and exploded, sending him reeling into the dirt. He got up snarling, holding his scythes ready as the vultures circled him. The five engines rumbled around him. The riders whooped and laughed hysterically as the hydralisk lunged at one of them. They simply moved with him and Bane never got any closer to the quick enemies. One of the riders broke from the circle and flew threw the middle surprising Bane with a grenade to the face. It exploded, smashing Bane to the dirt again. He roared in rage and got back up, waiting for them to try the trick again. This time, two of them swerved out of the dusty circle for a run at the hydralisk and Bane threw his scythes out at the last minute. The vultures ran across the outstretched blades and sparks flew as the bone scythes ripped through the steel. A rider fell off of his bike screaming, holding a bloody stub that used to be his left leg and the other vulture burst into flames and exploded a few yards away after getting its fuel lines cut by the hunter-killer's counter attack. The remaining vultures roared as they changed formations, coming straight at their target and Bane took off again in the only direction he could.

The photon cannons jutted up out of the ground one by one as Bane drew near them with the vultures hot on his heels and the particle accelerators crackled as they charged the phase disruptor shots. Bane saw the powerful ball of energy leap from the cannon and he closed his eyes as he ran, hoping his desperate plan would work. The hydralisk dove to the sand, and the ball flashed right over his head and crashed into a pursuing vulture, making the vehicle swerve with the impact as pieces of armor plating flew from the explosion. Bane jumped back up and sidled past the pivoting photon cannons as they fought off the vultures. One of them exploded and the remaining 2 turned back, retreating from the simple, yet stalwart, defenses of the Protoss lines. Bane practically laughed as he put distance between himself and the cannons thanks to his stubborn stalkers, but slid to a stop in front of a squad of zealots and dragoons. The zealots turned towards him and squealed, noticing him for the first time.

"Shit..." Bane groaned to himself and turned around again, running parallel to the photon cannons, away from the hostile Protoss warriors that had suddenly decided to join in where the vultures left off. Bane managed to keep ahead of the 12 clumsy dragoons, but the 16 zealots were much faster. He looked back only to see the Protoss catching up, and turned back around again to find that he had come to a dead end. Rows upon rows of tightly packed gateways and pylons loomed up from the ground, blocking the hydralisk's path as the wave of Protoss warriors trailing him closed off the only exits. "

Wait!!" Bane panted, "I didn't come to fight! I need your help!" he sent to them, but the zealots ignored him and charged in from all directions. The first one to reach Bane ran in with psionic blades in a flurry, but was batted away again with the blunt edge of one scythe,

"I won't fight you!" Bane growled. The zealot stumbled backwards with a crackling plasma shield as his brethren charged past him.

"Don't make me do this!" Bane yelled at them as the mob of troops closed in. Bane ducked as a zealot ran up and swung high with one blade and threw himself off balance. Bane shot up and swatted him away as well, but two more zealots were there as soon as Bane could get rid of the second one and the shier numbers of Protoss warriors poured against the single hydralisk fighting amongst a sea of blue. They were all around him, slashing and stabbing with the ripping blades of light. For every one Bane knocked away, three more took the advantage and tore into their enemy. Another zealot rushed into the crowd, trying to tackle the hydralisk to the ground and Bane slung him off with a deep snarl of fury,

"ENOUGH!!" he roared as he flung his scythes out at the entire of mob that zealots that had rushed in to attack again. He kept swinging, left and right, constantly hacking at the zealots that were trying to do the same thing to him with wild slashes of their psionic blades. The warriors that could get close enough with their short weapons could only do minimal damage before being knocked away again with a the crackle of a dieing plasma shield. Bane growled furiously, impaling a zealot in front of him, despite the other two who lunged, stabbing the hydralisk's sides open mercilessly. Bane dumped his enemy to the ground and slung his scythes to the left, but the offending zealot leapt backwards out of the way and the ones behind him tore at the thick carapace covering the hydralisk's back. The stomping dragoons could be heard over the roar of the infuriated zealots as they outnumbered Bane. After their brethren started taking casualties, the entire group rushed the hydralisk at once. All he could to defend himself, as 6 zealots tackled him to the ground and the remaining 9 dog piled on top, was to hold his scythes out in hopes that a few of the bastards would get gored by them in the fall. Bane hit the sand hard and the attacks rained on him. Snarling in terrible pain, he thrashed his scythes wildly against the warriors that held him down and did their best to tear him to pieces. Just when Bane could feel the strength draining from his arms and smell his own flesh burning more with each hack of the dozens of painful blades, a booming psionic voice broke through the unfair fight,

"IF that hydralisk is killed you will ALL answer to ME!!" The zealots that weren't injured immediately leapt away from their enemy, shutting down their psionic blades at once and bowing down on one knee to a single dragoon that clambered forward from the squad that had finally caught up with the chase. The hydralisk was sprawled across the sand, bleeding severely from uncountable slashes across its scuffed carapace and panting heavily next to four maimed zealots, barely able to keep its eyes focused on the boxy machine that had come to stand over him. Bane snarled in agony and the familiar voice broke through the waves of pain,

"Adun, help us! They nearly killed you," Bane squinted through the translucent blue glass of the dragoon at the mutilated dark templar inside,

"Is that you? But...you're-"

"Dead?" the dark templar answered for him from inside the cold shell.

"Almost," he continued, "My brethren remained in the Terran facility long enough to retrieve my body so I could further serve Auir." Bane sat up slowly, but growled in pain from the movement,

"You Protoss are really committed to your jobs, aren't you?" He half-laughed.

"All for Auir, my friend." the dragoon answered heartily, "But I have to ask you: what brings you here? You knew it would be dangerous." Bane stumbled, trying to get up, and a couple zealots that would have killed him a minute earlier came to help him. Bane snapped at them with a deep, threatening growl and they backed away again, letting the Hydralisk stand on its own.

"Mengsk will lose control of the Zerg," Bane panted, "And they will destroy us all." The dragoon bounced on its gangly metal legs,

"I know that already, its why were here-to stop him before the overmind and the swarms are reborn."

"You're too late!" Bane finally got his balance enough to stand up straight again, "The broods are already rampaging toward us, everyone here is doomed unless we all rally against them! Charley is spreading the word to the Terran militia as we speak. You must ally with them-it's the only chance you'll get to stop the Zerg." Bane explained. One of the zealots spoke up,

"How do we know that what you're saying is true?"

"We'll know the truth soon enough," answered the dragoon, turning to the zealots, "Prepare a truce party to meet the Terrans."

The idling siege tanks thrummed with a monotonous buzz as the missile turrets spun on their stands. Bunkers stood between the turrets and tanks, completing the impenetrable front line overlooking the battlefield. Two zealots approached under the setting sun, walking slowly, but steadily, toward the Terran defenders that could crush them easily. Inside the frontal siege tank, the gunman laughed as he aimed his sights at the two Protoss warriors,

"Is this some kind of joke?!" he chuckled, flipping on the auto targeting. A transmission crackled into the navigator's headset and he held up a hand,

"Hey, hold it Larry. Were getting some new orders."

"What?" asked the gunman, easing his finger off the trigger that released the powerful napalm shell. The navigator argued with his headset a minute before reporting what he was told.

"Command says were allying with the Protoss to fight the Zerg..."

"Sir, we have a situation!" squawked the speaker box on the Emperor's desk. Mengsk groaned, sitting up and flipping off an ancient record player emanating classical music.

"What is it now?!" He blared at his secretary, stubbing out a half-smoked cigar,

"Can't you see I'm about to celebrate a victory here?" The intercom crackled to life again,

"My apologies, Sir, but I think you better look into this."

"Alright," Mengsk sighed, taking a sip off of a glass of champagne,

"Put it on screen." The emperor hit a button under his desk and the Holophone flashed to life, displaying time and location of the incoming transmission before the picture and sound faded in through the static,

"Commander, we are under attack!!" The emperor gulped the wine down harshly and croaked,

"What?! By who? The Protoss couldn't have broken through already!" Screams and gunfire started to break out with the panicking voice of the officer,

"Sir! Send reinforcements, we're getting slaughtered down here!!" Ferocious snarls and hacking sounds became more coherent, followed by dieing gunfire and explosions.

"The Zerg, Emperor, they just...turned against us!! Please! Send help-" The voice talking screamed the words and then suddenly fell silent to the sounds of growls and faint gunfire.

"Linda!" Mengsk barked into the speaker box, "Sweep the drop zone and send me the comsat photos the xenomorph operation." The terrible scenes flashes across Mengsk's face from the light of the hologram for a few seconds before it suddenly changed. A new view was available, one more terrible than it's predecessor. It was an aerial view of the militia sent to protect the scientists and engineers controlling the overmind. The Hive clusters were complete; a living carpet of Zerg warriors and structures covered the land and swarms of monsters blotted out the sky. The Dominion bunkers and a few stray buildings looked puny in front of the menacing brood. The swarms flowed over the restrictions set to contain them, the buildings burned and filled the blotchy sky with pillars of black smoke. The bulk of the swarms were steadily flowing north toward the city and the battle outside like an unstoppable tidal wave of carapace, teeth and claws. Flocks of scourge flew close by, blocking the view and then the pictured died altogether, leaving the office in silence. Minutes passed and the speaker box broke through again,

"Sir? Are you there?" Mengsk sat, staring at the blank holoscreen and reached slowly across his desk to his intercom. The secretary croaked once more,

"Sir? Are you okay? Should I send someone?" The emperor finally pressed the button on the speaker,

"What have I done, Linda...What have I done?"

To Be Continued...


	10. Bane 10: Hero's Legacy

"You know, kid, if what you're telling us is a lie and it endangers my soldiers' lives; I'll kill you myself." The general said coldly to me.

"Trust me," I said confidently, "If Mengsk was so quick to betray me, he wouldn't pass up the chance to take out an enemy rebel faction and the Protoss at the same time." The officer's voice rose in tone a little,

"Don't you think Mandelle would contact us if there was any hint of trouble?"

"Where is your commander?" I replied, pausing to letting the truth take affect. "That's right," I answered for him, "With Mengsk and his troops back in the capitol. Mandelle is dead." The two zealots slowed down more as they breached arcilite fire range, but still steadily approached the front lines. Multiple targeting confirmations began crackling in from the siege tanks and marines manning the bunkers. The chief communications officer turned to the General, who stood gazing at the monitor screen for a moment before answering,

"Hold your fire." The communications team began relaying the order back to the troops. The zealots stopped about five feet in front of one of the bunkers, amidst rumbling siege tanks and humming missile turrets. The battle field was ghostly calm, not a breath of wind stirred. Even the buzzing and bleeping of the command center seemed to fall silent before the general finally spoke up again,

"Send a team down to meet them, they don't appear to be hostile-" The commander stopped short as annoying buzzing noises began blaring from the scanners. The adjutant droned to life, and blips starting pinging off of the radar screen by the dozen,

"Multiple Zerg signals detected entering the sector," It reported calmly.

"Do you believe me yet?" I yelled over the droning alarms.

"Give me a visual!!" the commander barked, and the screen flicked to an image of the south eastern front. The room fell to darkness when the image changed, revealing what, at first, appeared to be an enormous cloud rolling in over the land. The command deck suddenly erupted in a roar of noise as the general began shouting orders and the officers shouted back. The alarms kept going off, and the adjutant could be heard faintly beneath the panic. This was too much; I had to get out of there. I slowly backed towards the door, until the lousy marine guarding it gave me away,

"Were do you think you're going?!" He barked. I looked behind me to the panicking control room, and then back to the guard,

"Don't you think you've got bigger problems to deal with right now?" The atmosphere of the situation finally started infecting the thick-headed guard and he stepped aside with a blank look on his face. I nodded and ran by him.

The chaos inside the command center couldn't possibly hope to match that of the battle outside. I looked to my left, towards the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and the roar of the swarms as I stepped outside. Medics and marines ran by me, and a few wraiths flew overhead. In the distance, I could vaguely make out a front line between the buildings. Missile turrets were few and far in between-mainly due to the cluster of guardians bombing them with great blobs of green acid. For a few seconds, I could do nothing but stand in awe of the raging battle. The corrosive fluids scorched their way through the welded alloys of the structures, which began toppling one at a time as the guardians concentrated their attack. The essential bunkers were targeted next, but the siege tanks still stood with their arcilite cannons swiveling back and forth, furiously pounding the tidal wave of Zerglings rushing in. I decided I would help the rebels, even though one extra gun wouldn't add much firepower. Checking the safety on my canister rifle, I began jogging to catch up with the marines, and the front line took on detail and the sounds and sights of battle grew intensely. Just as the bunkers came into view, a sizzling glob of acid hurtled into the ground next to me. I jumped back as it exploded on impact, sending sand and rocks flying into the air. I only stumbled a little as I took off again, racing for the smoldering bunkers. The raining fire from the siege tanks and the hail of hot led and napalm from the bunkers kept the lightly armored Zerglings at bay, but they pushed closer and closer with their charge by sheer numbers as the guardians began taking a serious toll on the anti-air defense. I panted as I flipped my canister rifle up, resting it on the slopped wall of a thundering bunker. I winced as the siege tanks deafening arcilite cannons retorted sharply, but I didn't hesitate to take aim at the floating monstrosities that rained acid. The canister rifle belched fire as I squeezed of a C-10 round. An crimson little fireball dotted the armored beast in the sky, not seeming to slow the destruction of the buildings down at all, but the wraiths finally arrived on the scene and cloaked, taking the behemoths out with their missiles one at a time. It was slow work, but reinforcements were on the way. Goliaths trudged past the command center by the pair with the lumbering battle cruisers coasting in far overhead. The chattering of dozens of gauss rifles was muffled by the rumbling auto cannons of the goliaths as the battlecrusiers took positions over the line, pelting the guardians with the powerful ATS lasers while the remaining ground forces fought the Zerglings. My own thunking canister rifle was the only thing I could hear clearly above the chaos, so I kept firing. Then, just as suddenly as the sounds erupted, the battle died altogether as the endless flow of Zerglings stopped short. A slight breeze kicked up a swirl of sand from the desert floor; then siege tanks shattered the calm again. A wall of brown carapace came into view, as far as we could see on the southern lines. The siege tanks fired in unison, pounding the hundreds of hydralisks that slithered toward us as one giant mob. Unlike the Zerglings, the combined hydralisks took the punishing blasts of napalm and kept coming, bouncing over the terrain with their gangly scythes. I fired another canister round into the field, missing a lead hydralisk by inches. A shadow covered the stampeding monsters and the goliaths' hellfire rockets sprang to life as flocks of scourge glided over the carpet of ground units. The goliaths and bunkers flared, launching a thick blanket of bullets over the desert sand. Every hydralisk stopped at once and began blasting volleys of needles at the lines. Led rain pelted the lead hydralisks, but they didn't cease their powerful attack until the siege tanks fired again. Violent explosions rocked the ground and bloody gore splattered in the distance as the hydralisks took casualties. Unexpectedly, the mob suddenly changed fighting tactics and advanced, heedless of the bullets and napalm that rained on them. The small flying scourge hit the thick hulls of the mighty battle cruisers like powerful missiles, ripping into the ships with screeching explosions. The hydralisks stopped again amidst the hail of bullets and time seemed to slow down as they all opened their chest cavities at once, now dangerously close in range. I ducked as the extreme volley of six inch spines devastated the bunkers and siege tanks. Fire and shrapnel plummeted to the ground from the falling battle cruisers as a green mist blotted out the view of the enemy. The goliaths began trudging forward, steadily laying into the swarm with their auto cannons. Needles rained against the front line in counter attack, tearing gashes in the hulls of siege tanks and punching thick holes in the goliaths' reinforced armor. The bunkers' flashing gunfire seemed to fade as they caught fire, chipping away beneath the onslaught of needles. The wraiths bravely ventured into the fray, hoping the Zerg detectors hadn't arrived yet, and began firing away at the armored beasts with their puny ATS lasers. The siege tanks thundered again, but this time explosions not only came from the swarms, but from the Terran defenses as well. Fireballs rose up with plumes of smoke as 7 siege tanks faltered under the endless barrage of barbed spines from the hydralisks. The remaining battle cruisers fell to the sand in pieces of flaming wreckage amongst the raging battle as the cloaked wraiths slowly picked hydralisks off one by one with impunity. But the hydralisks overpowered the failing defenses at a rate faster than the wraiths and bunkers could handle at once. The goliaths began buckling by the pair, literally getting mowed down when the hydralisks concentrated their attack. In a last ditch attempt to stop the Zerg advance, the firebats poured out of the flaming bunkers. Stimmed up, they sprinted into battle at inhuman speeds, unable to feel the pain of the thick volley of needles that maimed them. The plan worked. The cracking of needle spines against the cement buildings faded as the hydralisks began focusing on the problematic human blow-torches that lumbered over the sand to confront them. I took a quick glance at the Terran line. The bunkers were flaming wrecks, but the marines inside tirelessly fired bursts of impaler rounds at the enemy invaders. "It looks like we might actually make it," I thought as I gunned away with my canister rifle.

The next second I realized that the idea of stopping the Zerg attack was a vain one. Just when the hydralisks were down to a few dozen and falling fast, the Zerglings returned. They raced in by the hundreds, the massive numbers of them stretching as far as I could see to the left and the right. Unfortunately, a flock of the slow, floating overlords lumbered into view high over the shifting masses as well and the wraiths' cloak dissolved, leaving them vulnerable to about sixteen hydralisks. The stampeding Zerglings flowed around the hydralisks and met the remaining firebats. Bounding heedlessly into the gushing flames, the closest ones leapt for the panicking Terrans at the center of the fire with miniature scythes outstretched. The flares of the brave firebats died as the horde literally ran them over. The hydralisks blasted a volley of needle spines into the air, ripping the lightly armored wraiths to shreds of metal. Then, the roar of their engines could be heard faintly as they attempted a retreat, but four wraith fighters were blasted out of the sky as the surging wave of Zerglings met the damaged bunkers. I backed away from the crumbling building, still plucking away at the Zerglings one at a time as I backpedaled. The scene was terrible and incredible at the same time; the screeching creatures covered the buildings like huge ants, flowing in at a rate faster than the marines inside could cut them down at close range with chattering gauss rifles. Wraiths spiraled to the battlefield in fireballs of smoke and flame, exploding on impact amongst the charging Zerglings and sending a few of them reeling through the air. The wraiths that managed to escape the volley of needles veered back around as they reached the bunkers, hastily blasting a handful of Zerglings at a time with their lasers. Above the faint gunfire, I heard the rumble of heavy machinery and looked back to see a new squad of siege tanks rolling in. There weren't many, but it was better than nothing. They all stopped abruptly with a whining of powerful hydraulic motors. Steel arms extended from the tanks to the ground to brace the machines for the powerful shock of the arcilite cannons that swiveled into position. The marines abandoned the flaming wrecks of bunkers and 8 siege tanks thundered at once. The swarms flowed over the buildings as the marines fled and were caught in the ripping shockwave of the arcilite blasts. Crimson explosions engulfed the advancing swarms, taking the bunkers with them. But the few dozen the Zerg had lost in the explosion didn't phase the numbers of their army, as the carpet of bounding Zerglings seemed to materialize by the hundreds out of the smoldering front line. The marines reached the siege tanks and turned abruptly, letting loose a sheet of gauss fire on the Zerglings and the siege tank's recoil rocked the ground again, raining powerful napalm shells into the mob. The wraiths retreated to the safety of the marines gauss rifles once more before the hydralisks caught up to the them. I suddenly realized, as I gunned away with the last rounds of my C-10, that I've seen this once long ago, in the battle with the Zerg on Tarsonis before I met Bane. It was the Terran's last stand on the planet, as pathetic as it was, and here we were again; fighting another seemingly impossible battle with the endless swarms of the Zerg. The Zerglings were so close I could see the blood thirsty look in their eyes when, just like the battle before, massive shadows swept in over our army. I looked up amongst the panicking marines and snarling Zerglings, getting an awesome view of eight carriers before their arbiter caught up, enveloping the ships in its cloak. But instead of incinerating us all, the huge vessels began spewing miniature fighter ships that rocketed out from the carriers in tightly calculated formations, spraying the advancing swarm of Zerglings with their bright blue lasers. Explosions rocked the battlefield as the interceptors flew in a circulating formation that dealt a steady stream of firepower, but the Zergling army was far too vast. They still leaked through and began reaching marines around me, tackling them to the ground, swinging viciously with their tiny scythes. One side of the Terran offense, I saw as I looked to a new source of screams and ecstatic gunfire, was nearly overrun. The marines were surrounded and falling fast; the Zerglings had even started to rip away at the siege tanks from inside their minimal range. The situation began to spread as more and more Zerglings pushed through the pummeling barrage of plasma attacks from the Protoss interceptors and the remaining efforts of our tanks and guass rifles. My pulse raced as I fed round after C-10 round into the surging mass of carapace that leapt and stabbed at the marines around me. I heard a marine yell for help close by; two men went down, and the Zerglings took advantage of the hole in the line. They charged headlong into the raining bullets, taking another marine down. I swung my rifle up and took careful aim at the Zergling standing up above the marine amidst the chaos. A fireball erupted from the small enemy as it toppled, head-first, into the sand. But three more bounded around the injured Terran and came straight for me. Another marine beside me had heard the commotion and turned to help with his guass rifle, but he could only squeeze of a few rounds before he was hit in the side by yet another leaping Zergling.

"Shit!!" I yelled involuntarily as I stumbled backwards, the falling soldier nearly taking me with him. I tried to swing the long canister rifle back to the left, towards the Zerglings I knew to be hot on my heels, but the barrel was knocked away and something large and solid smashed me over backwards. I landed hard on my back and the screeching Zergling rolled over me with its own momentum. Despite having a hard time catching my breath again, I reached for my canister rifle as the Zergling got to its feet and leapt again while the other two still bounded to catch up. The Zergling seemed to sail through the air in slow motion, it outstretched claws would not miss. But instead of dropping on top of me and tearing my organs out, a long scythe intercepted the Zerglings flight path; nearly ripping it in two with the force of the blow. The other two were in mid leap now, but it didn't matter. The satisfying "Splitch!" sound of Bane firing his powerful needle spines cracked the air and one of the Zerglings suddenly jolted back in the other direction; the impact sending it spiraling to the dirt. Another sound came to my ear as well, a vaguely familiar "Whooshink!" of psionic blades cut the heaving static of battle for a brief moment. The third Zergling exploded into a mist of bloody gore that splattered to the ground as the dark templar materialized before my eyes, giving me a quick nod before turning to help defend the marines and siege tanks from the Zerg with the graceful warp blades.

I looked around and gasped to see several other dark templar, standing and fighting alongside the panicking Terrans. The carriers still held their positions, conducting their fleets of interceptors and Bane stood above me with a slight grin on his face,

"Are we late?"

"Can you tell us what's happening?" asked the Commander wearily. Bane turned, glancing at the front lines. The flow of the Zerglings was finally brought to a halt by combined efforts of the Protoss and the remaining Terran army. Although the battle was won for now, there were no cries of victory after the smoke cleared.

"They'll be back," Bane said calmly, "And these forces won't be able to stop them again."

"How are you so sure?" I asked, looking around at the Terran base and the Protoss defenders that had come to its aid, "This army could be rebuilt, it won't even take a whole day-"

"The Zerg will return with their true strength in two hours," Bane interrupted firmly,

"The Overmind's will thunders across the planet, louder now than ever. The swarms are preparing a second attack."

"Then it must be stopped, or at least slowed down." I replied. The commander rubbed his face and sighed, as if unable to remember something,

"Mengsk has two of the renegade cerebrates holed up in the capitol building, if we could infiltrate the facility and destroy them, that may buy us some time."

"That's quite possible," added the gangly dragoon that bobbed on tall metal legs above my head. I had come to recognize him as the Dark templar that saved me from Mengsk's troops. He continued after a moment of concentration,

"The overmind was defeated on Auir with the same methods. Even with the mighty fleets at our command, their numbers were indescribable; destroying the cerebrates will thin the swarms out considerably."

"We've wasted enough time!" Bane growled, "And besides-I'd like to pay the Emperor a visit. I owe that mortal a slaughtering." My friend turned to the Terran General, "I need one of your machines," he commanded. The rebel commander did a double take,

"You don't actually think that you can fight your way past Mengsk's body guards and automated weaponry single handedly, do you?!"

"He won't be alone," I spoke up, "I'm going with him." The General threw his hands up in frustration,

"I can't believe this! I don't even have the first transport to spare anyway-"

"Then I will provide a shuttle," the dark templar interrupted, turning to Bane and I, "And the air support you'll need to get within a mile of the capitol building."

"Very well," sighed the General, "I don't see any other way around it. Take anything you need from the supply depos, I don't have enough soldiers to man the equipment as it is."

The florescent lights buzzed to life, illuminating the familiar sights inside the supply depo with a dull white light. The new boots from the stolen ghost suit I still wore squeaked as I paced across the floor to the wall of steel mesh containing a supply of arms and ammunition. Bane ducked under the low doorway and slithered in silently behind me, stopping as he came to the photon cooker. I groaned, staring at the small padlock that held the doors of the lockers shut.

"Figures," I complained, "They tell me to pick up some guns, but the things are all locked up when I get here." The hydralisk sidled over to the fusion cooler and pulled back on the long handle with its scythe, swinging the door wide open; a trick Bane had perfected weeks ago on Char.

"What's the special this week?" Bane asked, ignoring my difficulty with the padlock. I turned around and read the label of the boxes stacked in the floor of the cooler.

"Chicken," I said offhandedly, "Yaknow, you really should learn to read sooner or later. There are some good books out there." Bane snorted,

"Ha! I've got a better idea: since I don't have hands, you get this box of 'Chicken' on the fire so I can have a decent meal and I'll unlock your machines." I laughed as I walked over to the cooler and picked the box up, setting it on the counter next to the photon cooker.

"Yeah, that IS a good idea. The last time you tried to pick the box up yourself, you ripped it in half and spilled the chicken everywhere." I flipped the switch on the hotplate and it began radiating heat.

"Wasn't my fault," Bane replied as he moved to the locker and punched one scythe through the thin metal easily, "And I ate most of it anyway." The hydralisk jerked the locker door off its hinges and I dumped the box of chicken parts onto the steaming photon cooker. They began sizzling and Bane pushed the stuck locker door off his scythe with the free blade, letting it fall to the floor. I shook my head and grinned,

"It still made a mess when they thawed out, why didn't you go ahead and eat them all?"

"That's just the problem," Bane replied, "I had to eat them frozen solid and they were too crunchy." I laughed again, walking back to the locker and grabbed a few guns. One canister rifle, one guass rifle, two side arms along with extra ammunition and a few impact grenades; I was being modest with weapons this time-just what I could carry. As I jammed a full clip into my new gauss rifle and jerked the bolt back, the Hydralisk waited patiently for its food to cook, only drooling slightly. Banes table manners were improving. I laughed out loud again, in spite of myself.

"What's so funny?!" Bane asked hysterically.

"Nothing," I chuckled as the smell of burning chicken began to grow. Setting down the gauss rifle, I picked up the C-10 and began feeding cartridges into the magazine.

"Ah! Just right!" Bane exclaimed as he stabbed a charred drumstick and jammed it in his mouth. The chicken bones made the hydralisk sound like it was eating a giant stale cracker as it crunched the bones and meat easily before gulping the whole mess down in one swallow. The cooking chicken smell reminded me that I hadn't had a proper meal myself in nearly two days, and hunger had begun to stir, but watching the hydralisk snag up a second piece and devour it just as quickly as the first killed my appetite altogether. Bane noticed the crossed look on my face and stabbed another piece,

"You want some?" he offered.

"No, thanks," I gagged, "I'm not hungry."

The SCV's were in a nonstop rush to get the frontline back up again. The huge team had already gotten a rough net of missile turrets back online, and were working hard to get the bunkers ready for the remaining marines and firebats who stood by waiting and guarding. A squad of new tanks rolled off the assembly lines and rumbled past Bane and I, taking positions behind the new bunker sites. The Terrans didn't stand alone against the swarms this time; zealots stood in neat lines in front of the hard-working SCV's with psionic blades ready. The majestic carriers still hung silently in the air, effortlessly defying gravity. From where Bane and I stood, waiting for the dragooned Dark Templar, we spotted the hovering robotic slaves of the Protoss. The tiny machines gracefully scooted from one end of the Terran lines to the other, creating rippling shows of light that flashed into solid structures as both forces merged to form the next frontal defense.

"Finally," Bane complained out loud. I looked away from the armies and saw the templar wading towards us through the marching squads of marines and zealots.

"You always pretend to hate him just because he's Protoss," I teased.

"Pretend?" Bane snarled, "It's in my genetics to see them as enemies. They're our opposite half."

"Really?" I raised one eyebrow in question, "I've never seen you show sympathy for anything until he died." The hydralisk looked as if it had another witty response ready, but the Templar ended the conversation for us,

"Hurry, we have your ship ready and the escort is waiting!" I had to jog to keep up with the gangly machine as the templar inside gave us the details,

"We'll get you as close as we can. A roof drop would be risky due to the anti air defenses, but we can get you within a city block easily." The dragoon led us to a shuttle that hovered soundlessly a mere inch off the ground.

"I would prefer to be dropped at street level anyway;" I replied, "Mengsk might know we're coming and we could get cornered up there."

"That is true, but you'll have to fight through the emperor's most potent defenses just to reach the second floor," the Dark Templar exclaimed, "And what if Mengsk attempts to make an escape before you destroy the cerebrates?"

"That's were I'm hoping that our escort will intervene, and as for the initial firefight, we have two key elements on our side. First, we have the element Bane," I gestured toward the ten foot hydralisk posing next to me, "And second, we'll have the element of surprise." The blue liquid inside the Dragoon could be heard sloshing around as the Dark templar floating in it agreed with me,

"Not the best plan I've ever heard, but it may suffice-"

"We gotta get moving, the Zerg will return soon." Bane interrupted.

"He's right," I snapped, picking up my canister rifle, "By the way," I said as Bane sidled up the ramp, ducking under the door, "Are you ever going to give me your name, or am I going to have to refer to you as Templar all the time?" I could still sense a bit of life stir inside the cold shell as the Dark Templar answered,

"If you must know, I've been called Rakeem by my friends for centuries. You may use it as well." I nodded,

"Thank you, Rakeem, for your help."

"Good luck," the Templar replied as I turned and jogged up the ramp into the shuttle.

The highly efficient Protoss shuttle soared along silently, in complete contrast to the lumbering dropships the Terrans used for transports. But due to a complete lack of windows, we couldn't see the nine sleek corsairs at our flanks as we reached the city limits and began passing over the first few businesses and homes at the edge of the capitol. But the front windshield offered a view of the sky scrappers and taller structures as we neared the center of the capitol. There was no cockpit at all, the shuttle piloted itself , leaving most of the space inside the compact ship for cargo and soldiers. I've always admired the Protoss for their incredible efficiency. Just when I was starting to enjoy the smooth ride, the shuttle dipped down at a sharp 45 degree angle. The G forces of the dive held me in my seat but Bane began sliding forward to the front of the ship.

"I hate machines," The hydralisk growled, stopping just short of the glass windshield as it stabbed a scythe into the wall for a brace. Through the small windshield, I could see the squadron of wraiths that served as the Emperor's protective escort. The scream of their jet engines could be heard through the hull of the shuttle as the wraiths raced in a tight formation to meet our corsairs. The Protoss fighter ships glared with light as their thrusters accelerated the light crafts instantly. Streams of smoke trailed ahead of the wraiths from the twin gemini missiles they fired, but the corsairs paid no heed to the flying bombs and concentrated their neutron flares on Mengsk's escort. The missiles meet the corsairs in midair, exploding on impact. The corsairs' blue plasma shields strobed as they absorbed the shock of the attack and flew through the flames, still thrashing the wraiths with their neutron flares. Armor plating tore away from the Terran ships violently as they began evasive maneuvers. Suddenly, a single wraith broke away from the churning dogfight and dove down far ahead of us. We were still in a low angle dissent when the wraith fighter leveled out in front and fired its gemini missiles at our shuttle. They streamed straight for the windshield of the ship, but our view was blotted out by a rippling blue light. The ship jolted from the impact, and the autopilot responded immediately. I could definitely feel a change in direction as the plasma shield became transparent again and a vertical view of the overlapping lanes of evening traffic and the wide street a mile below filled the windshield.

"Hold onto something," I said nervously. Bane just shuddered and stabbed his other scythe through the floor as the ship plummeted straight down, weaving wildly through unforeseen gaps in the flow of the flying city commuters. The pursuing wraith launched another set of missiles at our shuttle, but once again, their explosive impact was absorbed by the protective shields that lay just inches over the hull. The jolt was still felt inside our ship and the blue fields blocked the windshield once more. When it cleared again, the shuttle broke free of the rush hour traffic and the cracked cement of the unused street loomed just ahead. I was sucked into my seat as the agile craft twisted in the air, leveling out over the street and swerving into an ally. The wraith was too big to follow us between the buildings, but it had one last shot at the fleeting yellow shuttle.

"I think we got away," I sighed with relief.

"Don't be so sure," Bane said just before another explosion cracked against the plasma shields, causing the ship to rock and weave. The stone wall on the left side suddenly rushed to meet the hull of the ship and the blue shield flashed brilliantly for a brief second as its remaining power shorted itself out on the solid wall of the building. The impact sent the ship reeling back to the opposite wall as the dazzling light of the dying plasma shield faded out for the last time. The windshield shattered and wind rushed in as the shuttle hammered against the stone building. The ear splitting wrench of ripping metal screeched from the hull and pieces of the ship tore free when it began crashing from wall to wall in a series of devastating collisions that ate speed and killed the engines. Without the thrusters, the once nimble Protoss ship now flew like a brick, falling to the pavement in a steep arch. Upon impact, Bane's scythes ripped free of the floor and wall and he smashed from wall to wall in the shuttle as it tumbled to a stop, slinging shrapnel in all directions. I got one last look at the world rolling end over end in the windshield before I blacked out.

I wasn't out long, but it was enough to disorient me. I didn't know which way was up and my vision wouldn't focus well. It was hard to remember were I was until Bane spoke up,

"You okay?" I groaned and rubbed my eyes, determined to find something that made sense in the dim light.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I finally managed when my head cleared. The first thing I noticed was that I was held upside-down in my seat by the safety restraints. Light leaked in from multiple rips and holes in the hull and pieces of the floor panels hung down by cables and wires like dead things.

"How do we manage to crash every ship we get?" I complained as the hydralisk cut my seat belts. The last strap snapped unexpectedly and I fell to the ceiling, landing on my canister rifle.

"Graceful," Bane complimented sarcastically.

"Oh, shit," I swore, ignoring the joke as I noticed the extra clips for my guass rifle scattered around the shuttle. I had set my ammunition belt and my guns behind the seat before leaving without thinking much about it. When the ship rolled, my guns and ammunition were slung out of the broken windshield and scattered all over the ally. My canister rifle and about half of the gauss rifle clips were still inside the ship, as well one of my side arms. Bane and I searched around the ally and found the other .45 sidearm, the gauss rifle and four more clips for it, but the ammunition belt with the extra C-10 canisters still eluded us. After a few quick minutes of unsuccessful searching, I spoke up,

"Did we look everywhere? I'll just leave them-we don't have time for this."

"Wait," Bane said, sidling back over to the decimated Protoss craft, "Could they be under the shuttle?" I just shrugged and the hydralisk punched both scythes into the hull of the shuttle and hefted one side of it up with only a small growl of effort. I dropped to the pavement and peeked under the ship. It's always in the last place you look. Crawling under the heavy transport, I snagged the buckle with one fist and pulled it out. Bane set the ship down again and jerked his scythes free of the crumpled metal,

"Let's go."

Surface streets are usually busy near the middle of town, but a chilling calm had was all that inhabited the deserted pavement outside the ally. Maybe it was the fact that the city had just narrowly avoided being run over by the Zerg, or perhaps the threat of another, stronger attack, that kept the bustling foot commuters in their homes. Wide cement steps led up to the foot of the skyscraper, where tall stone columns separated tinted glass walls with multiple sets of double doors leading into the building. The setting suns shone with their last light of the evening, creating a translucent glare on the bullet proof glass. Although the view of the outside was a bit obstructed by the bright light, the surveillance cameras hanging outside showed four different pictures of the lifeless stone steps. The security officers slumped in their chairs as they stared blankly at the same bland monitors. "

When's quitting time?" One of them asked out loud, "Shut up, Joe! You complain too much." The other barked back. While they argued, the monotonous video screens changed. A single Ghost in light rebel armor strutted up the steps carrying a canister rifle.

"Hold on, Lewy, we got something here." I pushed the glass door open and strode into the capitol building with ammunition belts brimming with clips and grenades and the gauss rifle on my back.

"Hey, you!" One of the guards stood up abruptly and barked at me, "You can't come in here armed like that, stop where you are!"

"What's the problem?" I asked in a bored tone as continued to approach the metal detector. "Its not me you should be concerned with; I would be more worried about him if I were you," I laughed, pointing over my shoulder with my thumb. The guards un-holstered their side arms and stood up, but it was too late. The glass door and most of the wall around it seemed to explode as Bane charged through it, sending thick shards of glass flying everywhere. I Swung my canister rifle to the left and let one of the guards have it. He screamed as the barrel belched fire and the canister hit him in the chest. It exploded, sending the guard reeling to the floor as the automated defense system came to life. What had appeared to be tiles in the floor rose up abruptly, each one revealing 2 sets of chain guns mounted underneath. The machines wound up and blinding flashes lit the darkest corners of the tall ceiling. Sheets of bullets whizzed over my head as I dove to the floor and took aim at one of the insane spinning machine guns. Bane leapt onto the security desk as the second guard held his sidearm out at length, but the snarling hydralisk swatted the puny weapon away just before the officer was cut down by his own defense system. The guard hit the floor beside me as I pulled the trigger, releasing an explosive canister that engulfed one of the auto-cannons in a crimson explosion. Bane growled as he was caught in a bursts of automatic fire; the bullets peppering his carapace, but doing little to slow him down as he lunged for the closest machine gun. I fed another explosive round into the chamber of my rifle as the hydralisk impaled the machine and growled with furious effort, tearing the bolts free from the cement anchors and lifting the sparking auto cannon above his head. I pelted another chain gun with one of the powerful grenades and Bane heaved the machine across the room. It sailed through the air before landing hard on the floor and tumbling into another chain gun, rendering them both offline. "Four guns down and only a dozen to go," I thought to myself as I reloaded with another explosive round. Bane lunged again, bringing both scythes down on another auto-cannon, crumpling it to the floor. I pulled the trigger once more, missing my first target but clipping the chain gun behind it. It toppled over with the impact, and the hydralisk slithered through the angry hail of bullets to the next auto cannon, cutting it down with one brutal swing before moving on to the next one. Smoke billowed through the room from the raging gun barrels and smoldered from the ravaged machines, choking me and burning my eyes, but I still plucked away at the automated defenses with my canister rifle. The thundering machines eventually faded away and died all together as the panting hydralisk smashed the last auto-cannon. Pieces of plaster could still be heard falling off the walls in the sudden silence, making crumbling noises while the smoke cleared. I stood up wearily,

"That wasn't so bad." Somehow, I was completely out of breath.

"That's easy for you to say," Bane complained as I approached, "You didn't have to fight these things while being hit with your own weight in lead." Bane's carapace was scuffed beyond recognition; the bullets had made an uncountable amount of deep scratches and dimples in the thick armor.

"Don't worry about me," the hydralisk read my thoughts, "We've got a job to do." I shook my head and reloaded the canister rifle,

"You're right. Lets go find the cerebrates." Bane started sidling toward the elevators, but stopped in front of the closed doors and waited for me to walk up and push the button for him. The doors slid open with their trademark "Ping!" and we stepped inside, although Bane had to duck under the doorway. Just as we turned around and the doors began to close, several power suits could be seen lumbering up the capitol steps before the doors slid shut with another "Ping!"

The elevator lurched to life seconds after I pressed the button for the next floor. When it came to a stop again, Bane spoke up abruptly,

"Keep going-there's nothing here." I only shrugged and pressed the button,

"How do you know?" "The cerebrates amplify the Overmind's will-I can home in on them when they're this close," the hydralisk responded.

"They?" I asked while the elevator hummed away.

"There are two of them here," he answered.

"The last time the Overmind was around, you had trouble controlling yourself. What's different now?" Bane thought for a few seconds before answering my question,

"I'm not sure how I am able to resist the will of the swarms, despite the fact that I can still sense it clearly." I nodded, taking the information in. A short silence held the crampt little square of the elevator until I asked another question,

"What's happening out there? Can you tell?" My friend sighed in concentration before replying,

"The Overmind is driving the broods against the city to reclaim it's cerebrates, and they're winning...we must hurry." Silence reigned again, save for the mechanical sounds of the elevator, but it was Bane who spoke up this time,

"Stop here!" He said suddenly. I jammed my fist into the emergency stop button and the elevator came to a halt. The doors slid open, revealing the wide hallway of the hangar bay. Strangely, this hall was lightly guarded. Only a surveillance camera stood watch at the end of the hall.

"It's here somewhere..." Bane trailed off.

"Let's start looking; I'll take this door," I said, I walking to the first door on the left. Hoping that Mengsk hadn't changed the hangar combinations since yesterday, I punched the code into the keypad next to the hatch as Bane slithered down the hall. He looked at each door in passing until reaching the fifth one. Stopping and hammering both scythes into the door, he tore them through it lengthwise. The metal curled back on itself as the powerful hydralisk peeled the rip wide open and forced its way into the hangar. I shrugged and stepped through my door when it opened with a hiss. Once inside the first hangar, the lights flickered on automatically. Unfortunately, they only illuminated a dull grey repair hangar with a dropship parked in front of a tall door, no cerebrates. With a gasp, I suddenly realized that this was the same hangar Bane and I had landed in when we rescued the advisor. I didn't have much time to spare, enemy troops would be here any minute; the surveillance camera mounted in the ceiling assured that. But there was one weapon I left in the dropship that I always thought I would need some day, and I felt compelled to retrieve it now before moving on to the next room.

The scientists buzzing around the cerebrate worked frantically to find a way to bring the Zerg back under their control. Both cerebrates outgrew the biggest of criotanks and had to be moved to the largest rooms in the building, along with the tables of chemistry equipment and electronic gizmos that always accompanied them. The bustling flock of genetic engineers and biologists echoed like static off the tall steel walls of Hangar 8, until the resounding impact of scythe against metal crashed from the closed door. The Terran scientists backed away as Bane hacked a long rip through the wide steel barrier and rammed through the gap, crumpling back the reinforced armor plating. He sidled down the ramp, and inspecting the crowd of writhing Terrans with an angry snarl. They huddled against the farthest wall, armed with thick tablets of calculations and lab coats instead of armor and guns. The hydralisk took one a glance at the cerebrate that occupied most of the space in the hangar, and turned back towards the frightened scientists, sending them his psychic voice with an rumbling growl,

"Run if you want to live!" They didn't need to be told twice. The engineers and scientists scrambled towards the exit, staying as far away from Bane as they could in the process. While they poured out of the hole in the door, Bane slowly approached the cerebrate that dwarfed the machines it sat amongst. Like a massive, overweight centipede, the pulsing creature filled the hangar. The multiple stubby legs protruding out of its body were completely useless for walking. It was also coated in some disgusting, sticky fluid that ran off in sheets and made puddles on the floor.

"I'm glad I'm not this kind of cerebrate," Bane thought to himself as he raised both scythes high and brought them down on the worm's rounded skull with all his strength. Blood splattered and the creature screeched in pain when the scythes met the rocky carapace, smashing through to the stinking fluids inside. The cerebrate shuddered convulsively as blood and organs spilled from the huge gash running down its forehead and then everything faded away. The hydralisk lost consciousness as the cerebrate died and their minds became one for a few seconds, but it seemed like years...

...There were the cerebrates, and the overmind towering above them all. The numerous swarms churned around them, flowing forth from them like raging clouds, consuming all in their path...They stopped at nothing to be the sole surviving species in the universe...it became their one driving force in life, one that the Overmind had forged since its creation long ago. The swarms ravaged planets, crushing all life in their path, innocent or otherwise; incorporating the strongest of the species they encountered into their genetic fold...

...Then the ancient records of the past shifted, taking shape of the present's images. The familiar battlefield was visible through a clear spot that grew out of the consuming glare, suddenly dragging the swirling dreams into a world of overwhelming detail that mocked reality. The evening sunlight began flickering out before sunset behind the rumbling thunderstorm rolling in over the dark battlefield. Pylons glowed dully, casting long shadows; silhouettes of the rows of bunkers and photon cannons that would soon stand against unbeatable odds. High Templar stood behind the limited protection of the defenses, pooling their energy for the vital psionic storms as the remaining tank squadron stood with their barrels aimed south, awaiting the tides of armored carapace...The eerie calm was shattered violently by the thundering siege tanks as the endless flood of Zerg warriors began. Charging in by the hundreds, their numbers stretched across the horizon; the pounding attacks of siege tanks, guass fire, and photon cannons began causing the futile casualties to the Zerg. Reavers released their deadly robotic scarabs that zipped across the battlefield, meeting the lead Zerglings with the pelting streams of bullets and the raining napalm, creating thumping blue explosions that rivaled the arcilite shock cannons. Despite the extreme volley of the combined Terran and Protoss defenses, the innumerable oceans of broods swelled against the punishment, driving closer and closer to the front lines. In unison, 8 tiny glaring lights flashed from behind the lines: the High templar. Just before the charging masses of Zerglings got too close, a wide crackling wall of brilliant psionic arcs crashed to life, creating a destructive shield of lightning that annihilated anything that attempted to pass through it. The view of the swarms vanished briefly as the rippling energy consumed the battlefield, but the powerful attacks suddenly ended and the unstoppable flow of Zerg began again. The templar drained their psionic reserves, calling on the massive storms once more. More Zerg broke through amidst the crushing lightning and pummeling defenses of the armies, assaulting bunkers and photon cannons. They were gunned down brutally as the rippling psionic energy held the swarms at bay for the last time. The protective lightning blinked out, but the desperate defenders fired on as the smoldering battlefield rumbled to life with the living carpet of Zerg invaders once again. The swelling waves of Zerglings overcame the forces of the attackers this time. Squads of zealots crumbled as dozens of Zerglings threw themselves into the noble warriors at a dead run, trampling over them in a rampaging charge for the bunkers and cannons. The unstoppable numbers built up against the stalwart defenses, mangling photon cannons and piling on top of bunkers despite the flames and chattering bullets of the Terrans inside. Siege tanks were hacked to pieces by the dozens of ferocious creatures that surrounded them. Reavers were destroyed as they ran out of scarabs and attempted to flee. Blue and red flames began to spring up from the lines, exciting the broods to new furies. Buildings began toppling, and both the brave Terrans and noble Protoss began helplessly falling to the never ending onslaught of the broods. Suddenly, a ripping blue light made the leaping flames of the burning buildings seem duller than cold ashes. Shockwaves thrashed the ground as four mighty Archons emerged, approaching the churning battle wielding the strength of raw psionic power. The swarming creatures screeched in outrage as the unworldly beings showered them with psionic energy. The bunkers crashed to the rocky dirt leaving the marines and firebats to climb out of the wreckage. They began to stand and fight the mounting Zerg with their puny weapons, but the Archons all told them the same thing with crashing psychic voices,

"SAVE YOURSELVES!!" The towering forms of the archons were smothered by the brown carapace that flowed past the failed defenses, the archons sacrifice only delayed the inevitable...Rain began thrashing down as the storm broke, releasing powerful bolts of lightning that crashed across the sky as the base was overrun by the Zerg. The Protoss called on every warrior in their army and brought ever ship in their fleets, but there was no stopping the destruction of the Terran base. The Zerg were winning, mounting more and more numbers against the helpless factories and barracks. The dwindling numbers of defenders fell back repeatedly, always retreating further into the base until there was nowhere left to go. The base was gone in a matter of minutes, leaving only the Protoss encampment for shelter. A few surviving Terrans escaped, just steps ahead of the ravaging swarms that came to crush the Protoss base from two sides. The same scenes were repeated again, but faster. Without the Terran backup, the photon cannon defense was down in seconds...

...The vision faded as the overwhelming broods began to crush the Protoss bass...but something incredible happened. Zerglings tumbled to the ground in mid run, and mutalisks spiraled lifelessly to the dirt. The broods suddenly began falling dead by the hundreds, mysteriously dropping the ground as if someone had hit a switch...The overmind's delicate control of the massive swarms was shattered as one of its cerebrates was destroyed...

...They would come again, eager to resume their plans of destruction and assimilation-but there was something different. The driving force that swayed the broods to annihilate life shifted, now turning against a new threat...one they could not rid themselves of; for it rose from their own ranks...

Then the vision suddenly started dissolving as a sensation from another realm began punching holes in the world like heavy rain. Bane strained to see more, but the downpour began changing viciously; stamping out the last remaining embers of the dieing picture. All that remained was the feeling that grew into something familiar: Pain.

Bane woke from the trance with a ferocious snarl as impaler rounds rained on him, chipping and ricocheting off his carapace. Marines were filing through the door and down the ramp into the hangar, opening fire as they got in range. Bane began to charge against the streams of bullets to fight the marines, until two of them met him at a sprint, spraying flaming napalm.

"Not firebats!" Bane thought hopelessly, but he didn't panic this time. Despite the scorching fire, Bane lunged for the Terran he knew to be at the center of the flames. Although the napalm burned his eyes, Bane aimed his swing carefully, and his scythe smashed across the firebat's head like a runaway train. There was a crack of bones amongst the thundering guass rifles and one firebat toppled to the floor. The smoldering hydralisk was pelted with bullets again before the second firebat stepped up, spewing flames. Bane stumbled back from the pelting shards of lead and gushing napalm, and the marines advanced forward, forming a line.

With a raging snarl, Bane surged against the lashing bullets and scorching flames one last time. He used his momentum to shove the firebat, who flew backwards into a squad of marines. Bane was right behind him, and impaled the firebat as the marines caught him. His scythes ripped through the power suit, just puncturing the napalm tanks on the Terran's back. The group of marines yelled over the chaos, trying to get their comrades to hold their fire, but it was too late. A stray bullet bounced off of the firebat's steel power suit, and a fireball engulfed the hydralisk and the nearby squad of marines. Tormented screams filled the hangar as the inferno died to a small fire on the floor, revealing five marines and a hydralisk ablaze with the sticky napalm. The remaining marines stimmed up, redoubling their efforts against the desperate hydralisk when another explosion rocked the hangar.

The wide door wouldn't open on its own because of the large hole ripped in it, so I launched a pair of hellfire missiles at it to give it a boost. The steel door crumpled away under the explosion and the metal feet of my goliath war-walker stomped through the crumbled cement and metal on the floor. I stopped as my view port revealed a line of marines pounding at a flaming hydralisk with their gauss rifles. Pulling the triggers on both control sticks, the twin auto cannons gunned away at full speed while I turning the torso of the goliath 45 degrees, sweeping bullets across the squad of marines. They fell like dominos as the rumbling machine guns mowed them down. Three more marines fell before they turned their full attention to me. I kept my fingers planted on the triggers, despite the pelting impaler rounds that rattled loudly in the stuffy cockpit. Still partially aflame, Bane lunged for the marines with vengeful scythes, bringing one of them to his knees with brutal swings that ripped armor and flesh, shattering the bones beneath. Sparks flew from the instruments in the goliath, sending up a miniature cloud of smoke inside the cockpit, but I pushed the machine to its limits as the remaining infantry turned against my friend once more.

Suddenly, there were only five marines left, then three. I stopped firing the auto cannons and unstrapped myself from the seat as Bane cornered the last enemy. The marine backed against the wall, emptying his last clips into the smoldering hydralisk in panic. The bullet-dimpled face of the goliath split open, and I jumped down with a TRA from our dropship. Lunging through the annoying hail of bullets, Bane swatted the puny weapon to the floor and impaled the marine by the shoulders of the bulky power suit, lifting him off the ground with a furious growl.

"WHERE'S MENGSK?!" the hydralisk demanded.

"Yes, answer the question." I said casually as I moved to stand next to the hydralisk, activating the TRA. The trained marine only whimpered in fear as Bane healed; the carapace crackled as the gashes and burns in it shrank away and vanished. The hydralisk even seemed to grow a little as its strength returned, involuntarily lifting the marine a few inches higher. Bane snarled with impatience, smashing the marine against the wall and mangling the power suit, lacerating the Terran inside,

"I don't have time for this! Tell me where Mengsk is hiding!!"

With blood streaming down the scythes that held him up, the marine finally croaked,

"Y-y-you can f-find him in his o-office," before he passed out. Bane dumped the marine to the floor and turned, noting my shot up goliath and the exhausted TRA in my hands,

"Thank you, mortal. You can be quite helpful with enough machines at your disposal."

"Don't mention it," I said as I began walking over to the goliath, pulling the rest of my guns out from the open cockpit, "I still owe you a few dozen of those."

Bane slithered down the hall ahead of me, zeroing in on the last cerebrate.

"You got that equipment from our old dropship, didn't you?" He asked as the wide doors slipped by us.

"Yeah," I answered, not thinking much about it.

"Go back to the ship." The hydralisk ordered calmly.

"What?" I asked.

"Get the ship and meet me on the top floor, I'll be waiting there."

"Bane, are you sure?" My friend stopped abruptly and turned to another wide steel door on the right, taking a swing at the metal with both scythes. The blades punched through the armor plating and Bane started peeling the door open,

"Hurry, we're running out of time!" he told me telepathically while he worked,

"After the last cerebrate is dead, I'll make my way up to Mengsk's office and drop off my regards." The hydralisk finished ripping the door open and slithered inside without another word.

"So you're gonna hog all the action and I get to warm up the ship, huh?" I called after him. As usual, I didn't get an answer. My laugh sounded flat in the empty hallway as I turned around with a shrug. Suddenly, a familiar chime came to my ears and I looked up. The elevator at the far end of the hall slid open, but nobody stepped outside. In fact, there was nothing in it at all-or so I thought. Three fireballs flashed in the elevator; the signature recoil of C-10 canister rifles. Flipping on my own cloak, I hit the floor before the drywall exploded from the wall as a result of poor aim. The other two rounds sailed over my head, thunking into the floor and the ceiling somewhere down the hall. As the smoke and dust cleared, sound became a common enemy. Making a noise would give away your position, and we all knew this. This suddenly became an eerie game of patience. I tried my best not to move at all, drawing tiny breaths at a time to remain absolutely silent. They had me outnumbered three to one, but time was on my side. They came up the elevator cloaked, and I just activated mine. The ghosts would have to move sometime before their cloaks ran out. I held my breath and listened, and, finally, there was a tiny sound. It was a little squeak of rubber on stone tile, over and over again-footsteps. They were coming down the hall, steadily pacing my way. I began to panic; I couldn't think with the lousy grenades on my ammunition belt jabbing into my shoulder, but that's what gave me an idea. I sat up a little, just enough to pull one of the explosives out of its pouch without scraping it on the floor. The squeaks came again, louder this time and I gently pulled the pin out of its slot, activating the ten second timer. It was a miracle they didn't step on me as they drifted by unseen, but by the sound of their footsteps, they had obviously passed by, so I lobbed the grenade down the hall and jumped to my feet, stumbling forward. I had excellent aim, although I couldn't see what I was throwing at. The grenade smacked against the thin air and I even heard one of them say,

"What the-" before the bomb detonated. The explosion was deafening in the solid hallway as it knocked me off my feet. I got up and my ears rang angrily as I coughed my way through the smoke, canister rifle at the ready. There was no need for it, the explosion had massacred two of the ghosts. The third one was only injured; a thick blood trial leading down the hallway gave him away, but that didn't matter to me. I turned abruptly from the bloodstained scene and headed back down the corridor to the first hangar. I had changed my mind,

"I've had enough fighting for one day," I though to myself as I punched in the code for the hangar again. Surprisingly, the keypad emitted a dull buzzing noise, indicating that the combination was incorrect. Trying twice more, I getting the same result. I sighed, pulling two more grenades off my ammunition belt and setting them at the foot of the door. After jerking the pins out and stepping back, I remembered to cover my ears with both hands this time as the powerful blasts shook the floor. The smoke threatened to choke me again as I stepped through it to the doorway. There was the dropship, still with the back door open like I left it. But I wasn't going to be able to just hop in and fly away this time, for auto cannons lowered out of their hiding places in the ceiling in unison with the five that rose out of the floor.

Bane ignored Charlie's half-hearted complaining and made his way down this new hall, closing in on the cerebrate. But as he approached the right door, a rotating alarm on the ceiling began spinning around with its strobing lights. The hydralisk turned and threw his blades against the steel barricade as auto cannons began rising out of the floor on both ends of the hall.

The steel plating covering the hangar door suddenly crumpled in, giving away to the bone scythes that lashed against it. Scientists and engineers panicked as the hydralisk hastily forced his way inside and slithered down the ramp.

"You know the drill!" Bane snarled at them, approaching the cerebrate as the egg heads cleared out. The hydralisk only hesitated a few seconds before crushing the defenseless worm, fearing what it would show him next, yet curious as to what truths it could reveal. When the heavy scythes crashed through the skull of the cerebrate, Bane began to drift away again. But this time, no rippling visions came to him. All he could see was the blinding extent of the overmind's angry will. Bitter flames of hatred lashed out at him, seeking to end his life. The raw, burning flares were stamped out suddenly and the cold confines of the hangar came rushing back to meet him, ending the dream abruptly. He wasn't out for more than three seconds; the last scientist hadn't even left the room yet. Bane stared at his scythes that still lay gored in the cerebrates' face, watching the vile liquids inside run down them to collect in puddles on the floor before jerking them free again. Turning on the gurgling monstrosity, Bane began sidling back towards the door, but stopped before he squeezed through. Looking down the hallway Bane spotted the auto cannons rising out of the floor again, and the squads of marines closing on his hangar from both sides of the hallway. He was trapped.

I flipped back into the hall as the auto cannons sensed my motion and began firing in all directions. I could have taken cover and plucked away at them with the canister rifle, but ammunition was already in short supply. Still cloaked, I made my way back up the hall. Stepping over the mutilated bodies of the two ghosts, I suddenly remembered the blood trail. I looked to the red trail on the floor and began following it. Around a corner and five doors down I found the body of the third ghost. He had dragged himself in here and reactivated the security systems on this floor. That explained why the doors were suddenly locked and the auto cannons armed. The ghost was sprawled across the floor of the utility room, one hand still outstretched toward the huge steel panel of circuit breakers. I looked up, to the mass of switches and lights. There were no labels on them. I sighed, reaching up to the biggest switch and jerking it down. I was met with promising results as every light on the hangar bay blinked out. Now that I needn't worry about being shot at, or seen for that matter, I bounced my way down the hall through the dark. The only light shone dimly from a lighted arrow above the elevator, casting a light green glow over the hall. Thankful for the tiny light, I found the hangar door again. I groped around in the dark awhile until my hand finally found the handle on the dropship door. I pulled it open with a jerk and jumped inside. The turbine engines sounded louder than usual as the spot lights came on, revealing the closed hangar door. I couldn't open it manually without electricity, so I sighed again, grabbing the last three grenades off my belt.

Gauss rifles thundered from both ends of the hall as the marines spotted Bane's head poking out of the hangar door. He lurched back inside again as the bullets riddled the steel enclosure. Bane looked around hastily, desperate to find something that could give him the advantage against the superior numbers. The marines could be heard moving closer, their swearing and commanding grew louder. The hangar, despite the fact that the bulky cerebrate was occupying it, was the largest room in the building. It would leave the marines all the room they wanted to maneuver and encircle him with their rifles, so Bane fought his instinct to stay hidden and smashed through the door, into the hall. The marines raised their rifles and the auto cannons lifted from the floor again, but the hall was suddenly plunged into darkness. Bane grinned to himself as the blinded marines stumbled and tripped over the half deployed auto cannons in the dark. A short scream pierced the dark hallway and the marines panicked, gunning away at nothing with their rifles. Bane slashed at one helpless marine after the other as the crossfire of impaler rounds pelted the unsuspecting Terrans. The squad leaders had been yelling for his troops to hold their fire, and the order finally sank in. The lead marine flipped on his suit lights, revealing a bloody hallway devastated by guass fire. 14 marines lay slaughtered on the stone tile; some lacerated beyond recognition and others full of holes, but the hydralisk was nowhere to be found.

Crimson explosions glowed on the horizon, rising and fading again in the night sky to match the lightning streaking from an approaching storm. Rain pounded the tall glass windows in sheets, causing the dimly lit expanse of the office to strobe with light with every clap of thunder. The only other light streamed through tiny spaces between the wooden double doors. Locked and barred in his office, Mengsk could only sit and listened in silent terror to the sounds of his failing defense system. Backup soldiers would have been extremely helpful, but most had fled their jobs to be home with their families-quite possibly for the last time-The looming threat of the Zerg had driven all but the die-hards to safer ground. The auto cannons had thundered to life in the hallway only minutes ago, and now silence claimed the hallway again as the last chattering machine gun could be heard crashing to the floor outside. The ribbon of light blinked out when a form taller than the door blocked it. The locks and chains on the double doors shattered the dark serenity of the office, rattling and clanging in recoil as the hydralisk on the other side tested the doors' strength with a slight blow. The emperor reached into his desk drawer with a trembling hand, pulling out a sidearm hidden there. Lightning flashed again, illuminating the office with a blue glow. Before it could fall to darkness again, the wooden doors shattered off of the wall in thick splinters as the hydralisk tore them off their hinges.

"B-Bane! How good it is to see you!" Mengsk stuttered, sitting up straight in his chair. Bane ignored the false statement, growling deeper and louder as the emperor tried to talk his way out of his own fate, "Don't be so irrational, friend, I'm sure there's something I could give you-"

"FRIEND?!" Bane snarled with rage, "You tried to kill my friends, you used me to unleash a terrible plague upon the universe simply for a slight chance of becoming the unquestioned ruler of this one meager planet; you're directly responsible for the hell I've been through, and the misery I must go through yet!!" Mengsk flinched as the furious hydralisk spoke, moving closer with every syllable,

"C-C'mon, Bane ole buddy," the emperor croaked, standing now and backing away from the advancing hydralisk, "I know you're hungry, I can get you all the food you want!" Bane reached Mengsk's desk and flung his right scythe against the flat piece of furniture between him and his enemy, sending it tumbling to the other side of the room. The emperor held the sidearm up, aimed for Bane's chest,

"Don't come any closer!" Mengsk yelled. Bane completely ignored the handgun, even after the emperor began firing away. One bullet at a time bounced off the rocky carapace, doing almost nothing to stop Bane from lunging forward and pinning Mengsk against the glass windows with one scythe. lightning flashed again when he hit the window, nearly breaking it. Mengsk panicked, uselessly firing round after round at the beast that held him.

"Yes!" Bane roared, "Do your very best to piss me off before I kill you!" The bullets ran out and cracks spread through the glass, spidering out as Bane put more pressure on the emperor's throat.

"What are you going to do to me?" Mengsk strained for air as the hydralisk's eyes closed to slits, "I'm not going to kill you, yet," Bane began, letting his free scythe fold down to its locking place against the forearm, "I'm going to make your world very painful before I bring it to an end." Bane reared back the free arm and brought it forward hard, crushing the closed scythe joint across Mengsk's face like a giant, bone fist. Blood flew in a thick mist as the Terran was knocked to the floor with the force of the blow, and the hydralisk sidled across the room after him.

"This is from Rakeem!" Bane snarled, swinging low and catching the Emperor in the stomach with another blunted punch as he struggled to get up. He groaned with the impact, sailing to the other side of the office in an arc. Blood ran down his face as he hit the floor and rolled over onto his hands and knees, gasping for air. The hydralisk quickly approached again, using a wicked uppercut to knock the emperor against the wall,

"This one's for Charley!!" Mengsk was hit so hard that the impact flattened his body out on the tall bookshelf mounted against the wall, sending thick dictionaries and novels avalanching down on him.

"And these are for every innocent life form you put in my way!!" Before Mengsk could go down again, Bane reached him and threw punch after punch in snarling fury, crushing the emperor's face and breaking ribs. Mengsk tried blocking some of the huge bone fists, but it only resulted in his hands being smashed. The pummeling finally ceased and the emperor slid down the wall, whimpering in pain, when Bane stopped him with the point of one outstretched scythe. The sharp point forced the emperor to sit up against the bookshelf again, and Bane slowly put more and more pressure on it. Mengsk coughed blood,

"No, Bane, wait!!" Mengsk gurgled helplessly as the hydralisk's blade tore through the fabric of his suit.

"And this is for me," Bane growled. Searing pain pulsed from the emperor's shoulder as he was slowly impaled. When the scythe was a mere five inches deep, Bane lifted the emperor off his feet, carrying him to the center of the office. Mengsk screamed in pain as the hydralisk lifted him up to the full reach of its arms. Bane roared in the face of his enemy,

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now!!" Mengsk could only pant in tight little gasps to keep from screaming again as Bane gave the scythe a slight shake. The vibration caused the Terran to slid further down the scythe by the force of his own wieght; flesh tore and bones snapped as the point of the sickle ripped through the cloth on his back. Blood gushed to the floor, running down Bane's scythe in streams. The hydralisk turned, carrying his prisoner to the window.

"You holding on tight?" Bane asked with a feral grin as he shoved the emperor through the glass window. Wind rushed in from the angry storm outside and lightning crashed accross the sky again as Mengsk's feet dangled over the open air, illuminating the 53 story drop to the pavement far below.

"I'll give you a choice from here," Bane growled sadistically, "You can plummet to your death now, or hang around until you bleed to death." Mengsk only moaned, growing paler with each breath.

"Suit yourself," the hydralisk laughed, raising its free blade and violently slashing the Terran off its other outstretched scythe. A faint scream could be heard as Mengsk disappeared into the distance.

The pattering rain on the windshield was interrupted by a crunch of metal as a limp form plummeted out of the darkness and bounced off the nose of my hovering dropship. I looked up at the sound, getting a glance of what had hit the ship,

"That's my cue," I said with wide eyes as I flipped a few switches, causing the ship to climb. Dim windows passed the windshield, until I reached the top floor were the one of the three tall glass windows of Mengsk's office was shattered out. I hit the searchlights and his devastated office greeted my eyes. Bane stood in the middle of it and watched the ship as it leveled out, raising one scythe high in victory. I smiled and used the left rudder pedal to swing the ship around 180 degrees. When I opened the rear cargo door, the hydralisk jumped the small gap into the back of my dropship. I closed the hatch again and looked back at my friend. He gave me a nod and I gassed the engines. The rain eased some, but the lightning still clashed as we left the capitol building in silence.

The horizon glowed with the explosions of a fierce battle as we approached the city limits, illuminating thick columns of smoke that stretched into the black sky.

"This doesn't look good," I said, noting the signs of chaos, "It doesn't look like the Zerg slowed down at all. You said the overmind was attacking so persistently because it's cerebrates were trapped in the city. They're dead now-"

"No," Bane interrupted, "They live. Cerebrates can never truly be killed; the overmind will reincarnate them soon." Fat rain drops began pelting the windshield again as I asked,

"Then everything we did back there was in vain?"

"No, again." He replied. "The cerebrates shall take form within the safety of the hive clusters, but until they do, there will be a brief pause in the endless onslaught of the broods. We must rally the remaining troops here and make an assault on the Overmind and the hives as soon as possible." Silence reigned for eight solid minutes, and the battlefield began to take on detail in the thrashing lightning storm as our dropship approached the front lines. Smoke billowed over the torn landscape below us that used to be the center of a bustling Terran complex. Flaming heaps of wreckage were all that remained of the rows of barracks and factories. lightning flashed again and again in the pounding rain, illuminating the nightmarish battlefield below; mangled bodies of machines littered the ground amongst the piles of dead Zerg. Mounting casualties bared witness to the Zerg's fiercest strike yet. There was nothing left of the Terran base, it was all reduced to smoldering rubble save for a few hovering buildings that managed to escape the chaos. The Protoss side was in shambles. Endless blue flames rippled into the night from the pylons and cannons set as defenses, acting as beacons in the driving rain. I steered the dropship toward the base, dropping in altitude. Despite being in a capitol ship, the damaged but potent net of photon cannons didn't fire their phase disruptors as we came within range. The thrusters kicked up sheets of mud from the war-torn earth as our ship came to a stop. Streams of rain ran off the back of the ship when I opened the door, revealing the waterlogged world outside. As Bane and I trudged through the rain to the glowing pylons, I noticed an arbiter hovering above. We were suddenly meet with several battle-weary faces as the cloak dissolved. Surviving marines, zealots, and high templar stood in squads, watching as we entered the base and approached the remainder of the dragoon force. Somehow everything looked tired, even the robotic reavers seemed to sag in the downpour.

"My friends," Rakeem spoke up, stepping forward in a battered dragoon that sparked and smoked, "We were barely able to stop the broods, I'm afraid we may not survive should they strike again. I have ordered a counter offensive-we must strike the primary Hive while there's still a chance!"

"Precisely," Bane growled, "But we're only going to get one shot at this." The hydralisk turned to me, "Charley, remember how you vanquished the overmind once before? Can you do that again?" I checked the canister rifle that I had stolen from the base along with the Ghost armor I still wore. With the dim light from the pylons and the occasional flash of lightning, I found the small laser and safety trigger mounted under the barrel.

"The canister rifle's ready, but it's useless without a nuclear silo to arm it with," I looked up to the hovering command center and the surviving tech buildings that hung in the air.

"Those things still work?" I asked the question out loud. The only Terrans I could see through the stormy night were marines and few siege tanks that had seen better days. Lightning streaked across the sky and the rain beat down on us harder than ever as one of the marines in a power suit stepped forward,

"Our chain of command has been completely wiped out, those structures are on autopilot. We would have to board them to bring'em down again." "

Then use my dropship;" I ordered, "Get those buildings on the ground and throw together a new missile silo. I don't care if you use sticks and glue to build it-just hurry!" The marine listened to me with a sleepy look on his face, but he seemed to snap out of it. Giving me a nod, he turned and headed for the dropship parked in the mud.

"Get those siege tanks ready for transit," I said, pointing toward the sputtering machines huddled behind the photon cannons. The remaining marines gave me blank stares and I looked around, realizing there were no shuttles anywhere. The only aircraft in the sky was a sole surviving arbiter with a pair scouts. I must have looked confused, because Rakeem spoke up again,

"Our air fleets were devastated in the last Zerg attack, all that remain are these three ships." The robotic voice of the dragoon paused for a second, "There is only one way to reach the Overmind, and once we arrive at the center of the nest, there will be no turning back; Failure is not an option."

The arbiter and its escort rocketed overhead, venturing the into darkness from wench the armies of the brood came. Rakeem and his forces packed into tight squads, preparing for the Recall spell. Although the Terran buildings were going up in smoke, the robotic systems onboard still functioned properly. The nuclear silo seemed to build itself as 18 marines with five siege tanks joined Rakeem's small army of zealots, dragoons, and a pair of reavers. Not a single dark templar had survived the onslaught, and only one of their high templar brethren was able to join us today in the desperate battle ahead. As the Protoss crafts vanished into the stormy night, I moved to stand next to Bane,

"Do you think we'll make it?" I asked. The warriors around us stood against the wind-driven rain, silently watching the place where the ships disappeared.

"I cannot say," my friend sighed, "but if the overmind isn't destroyed quickly, we will all die and your planet will fall to the Zerg."

"It's good to see that you're being optimistic about this," I laughed nervously.

"Charley," Bane interrupted. I dropped the jokes when he used my name; he still rarely does. He continued, "We're too late, the broods are nearly ready to attack again. This tiny force will have to fight back the entirety of the swarms to reach the overmind and it's cerebrates; I only have one card left to play-" My friend's psychic voice was suddenly muffled by a thick silence. The thin air seemed to fold over on itself before a deafening crack of psionic energy announced the recall spell. A blue field ripped across my view of the small offensive force awaiting teleportation and everything stopped. Time stood still as Bane, the marines, the Protoss-everything dissolved before my eyes and a new picture began fading into my vision. As the world took on detail again, a thick carpet of creep was suddenly under my booted feet. I looked up as the color drained back to my eyes and time sped up to normal. No rain fell here, but the lightning flashed relentlessly, illuminating the towering Hives that surrounded the overmind and its cerebrates. Even at a distance, they seemed huge; larger than any living thing I'd ever seen. Giant eggs pulsed at the base of each hive. There was only one strain of Zerg that was that large, and the presence of them struck fear into the small army as it materialized at the scene. Then everything suddenly happened at once. Marines and dragoons formed a line as the five remaining tanks sieged up beside the reavers. A flock of scourge flew into view from behind the hives, screeching as they soared over the sunken defenses. The planet began trembling under our feet as the Zerg army burst forth from their burrows. It was only a few dozen at first, but as the scourge closed the distance between the hive cluster and us, the creep-smothered ground exploded in a wide tidal wave of unburrowing hydralisks and Zerglings that sprung out of the dirt and hit the ground running.

"FOR AUIR!!" Rakeem boomed over the small army of Protoss warriors that stood against the impossible odds. The zealots poured life into their psionic blades, casting bright glows that reflected back at us in the eyes of the charging broods. The few marines around us cheered with it to give them hope, even if it was a battle cry for another planet. Arcilite fire announced the battle's start once again as the rows of unburrowing Zerg drew within range. Five explosions rocked the on comers in the distance, adding a crimson shade to the flashing lightning; illuminating the raging swarms that rampaged towards us. Despite the bombarding hail of bullets, the scourge soured high over the dragoons and marines and ran headlong into our Arbiter. Blue plasma shields crackled briefly before the ship spiraled to the battlefield in front of us in a ball of rippling flames, exploding on impact amongst the roaring flood of Zerglings. The line of zealots met the claws of the Zerg with a flurry of slashing blades, but the huge numbers of the swarm surged against the phase disruptors and impaler rounds; surrounding our short line of defensive zealots. The siege tanks fired again and needle spines began falling on the dragoons and marines in volleys as I shook my head to clear it. Bane opened his chest cavity and began launching spines of his own back at the offending hydralisks. My hands shook as I fumbled with the canister rifle. Flipping on the laser targeting, I held the stock to my shoulder and sighted through the scope. The overmind and the cerebrates were visible beyond the hives, but the targeting system couldn't get a lock at this distance. Trumpeting roars pierced the stormy night, causing me to jump as the fearsome ultralisks tore free of their eggs to join the charging hydralisks and Zerglings. My hair began to stand on end as the High Templar behind me created a powerful field of psionic energy. Crackling arcs of lightning leapt from the thin air, forming deadly whirlwinds of fury that shredded groups of attacking hydralisks. The reavers released their scarabs one by one as they zipped into the relentless swarm, exploding amongst packs of charging Zerglings, sending the light enemies reeling through the air. The siege tanks blasted once more, steadily pummeling the horde of churning carapace, but it all wasn't enough.

"We must get closer!!" I yelled to Rakeem, who drove his dragoon to its limits beside me, "The bomb must hit the Overmind directly to be fatal!" Psychic screams and blue embers rose from the zealots as they began to fall under the onslaught of the broods. The dark templar responded hastily,

"There is nothing we can do, my forces are already loosing ground!" Indeed, he was correct. The dieing zealots fell back again and again, until the Zerglings began leaking through, drawing our essential ranged fire away from the fierce hydralisks. Dragoons were encircled and tore down and the organization of the offensive began to break up. Siege tanks rang with metallic thuds as their armor absorbed the concentrated blows of the rampant needle spine fire and marines were tackled to the ground by trio's of leaping Zerglings.

As Bane switched from firing needle spines to fending off screeching Zerglings with his powerful scythes I began to realize the cold truth. What we had attempted could not be done. Our tiny force of warriors should have fled instead of fool heartedly trying to stop the Zerg, and Bane's prediction was true. We were all going to be slaughtered and consumed by the terrible broods. I began to panic, changing the canister rifle back to C-10 rounds and vainly pumping explosive shells into a mob of hydralisk's that slithered into range. "Gonna die...This is how I'm gonna die..." It was all I could think of while gunning away. Only three siege tanks reported this time and the gunfire of the marines seemed to wither beneath the roaring static of the swarms. The sound grew and grew, filling my ears and my mind until my friend's confident voice broke through it all. The rumble and heave of the losing battle faded away, seeming far off and unreal as Bane shared his mind with mine, bringing sudden calm to my racing pulse and panting breath.

"You see what I must do," came the solemn message from the hydralisk in front of me who fought with graceful scythes that always seemed to find the vitals of the lunging Zerglings.

"No, Bane!! It doesn't have to end that way..." I couldn't have screamed the words to Bane over the snarling beasts surrounding us, but telepathically linked as we were, the hydralisk seemed to understand every syllable.

"There is no other way besides death, and you know I cannot allow that," came my friends response. A lump formed in my throat as the lightning storm intensified, throwing angry bolts of electricity across the sky.

"You are my friend; I won't let you die again!" My voice sounded small and weak in my own mind as Bane replied to my thoughts,

"Friend..." he repeated the word, savoring the sound of it, "You are my only friend, Charley, and as my friend I ask you to help me. Help me end the misery and slaughter, before its too late for you as well." The sense of calm shuddered as Bane was tackled by another hydralisk. He threw the enemy off with a raging snarl, lunging for the deathblow.

"I-I-can't do it," I stuttered, fighting back my emotion. The lightning crashed again, illuminating the hydralisk's solid form as Bane turned to face me for a split second. I don't know where I got the strength from, but my trembling hand involuntarily found the bottom of the canister rifle, switching the laser targeting back on. The hydralisk gave me a nod and I stared into the large red orbs of its eyes for the last time,

"Goodbye, Bane. I'll never forget you..." my failing voice echoed.

"Farewell, Charley, my friend." came the sad response from the noble creature before it turned from me for the final time, facing the raging swarms that had nearly finished crushing our meager army.

The calm was suddenly torn as the roar of the battle came rushing back to my ears. Thrashing a leaping Zergling aside, Bane lunged into the sea of carapace, fighting his way through the Zerglings and hydralisks that stood to oppose him. Impaling another hydralisk and dumping it aside, he reached a break in the charging rows of enemies, gaining a few yards before remembering what he saw from the second cerebrate-the scorching will full of hate that sought his life. The overmind, in the absence of the two cerebrates, struggled to maintain it's delicate control over the raging broods, managing to drive them against the invaders until the cerebrates could be made whole once again. As a cerebrate, Bane wasn't able to manipulate the swarms. He could only amplify the overmind's will, flinging forth the blind anger that he saw flowing from it, corrupting the control of the swarms. In the strobing flashes of lightning, I could see the dragoons and remaining squad of marines that guarded the last siege tank seem to sigh as the pressure of the swarms suddenly gave.

"What's happening?!" Rakeem asked from over my shoulder as we watched the tide of Zerglings and hydralisks suddenly turn tail and run from us, chasing my brave friend.

"Bane's saving our asses!!" I barked back, "Give me all the backup we have, I must get a lock on the overmind!" The dark templar watched Bane trying to fight his way through the swarms, leading them back towards the hives. The broods twisted and swerved, lunging for the fleeing hydralisk. I didn't hesitate any longer, leaving the stunned remnants of the army behind at a dead sprint. Bane did his best to dodge the leaps of the Zerglings ahead, but they began colliding against him at a flat run, throwing him off balance and slowing him down. Rows of hydralisks formed lines and opened their chest cavities, revealing their needle spines before unleashing them in a furious hail. I slowed down just enough to get a look through the scope of the canister rifle, aiming the crosshairs at the hulking shadow of the overmind in the distance. The scanner's Range light flashed dully for a few seconds, but then a high pitched beep sounded in my headset and the electronic crosshairs suddenly found the overmind in the dark. The seemingly harmless laser cut the night, falling as a little red dot on the center of the huge creature's mass. Though distorted beyond recognition, the adjutant crackled into my headset,

"Nuclear Launch Detected." Now the broods went into a frenzy.

The Overmind sensed the launch of the deadly Terran device, and suddenly stopped fighting Bane for control of the swarms. Instead he whipped the broods into new furies, desperately driving them all against the renegade cerebrate. lightning crashed again and again, making the terrible scene as broad as daylight. The Zerglings swarmed in on him now, diving at him from all directions. Bane stumbled over one that had just missed and was hit by four more on the left side. It threw him to the right and the dozens of vicious little monsters trailing him caught up, diving onto his back and stabbing away with their tiny scythes. Bane slowed to a crawl as they piled on, screeching and thrashing. He tried to fling them off as the packs of hydralisks rained needle spines on him, regardless of the damage they did to their own brethren. The hydralisk finally buckled under the crushing weight of the dozens of Zerglings hanging off of his carapace and the swarms poured against him. The pile of Zerglings grew as they mounded up around my friend, their thirst for the kill overwhelming them. The hydralisks closed around them in a circle, pounding the churning mass of Zerglings with their needle spines. This madness continued for a few seconds that seemed like hours, until the pile of Zerglings began to grow again. Something was different, the mound of screeching creatures seemed to get larger even though no more Zerglings could pile on. They even began to fall off in pairs as the dog pile trembled and shook. Then the will of the renegade cerebrate began to subside, and the overmind's control over the broods slowly returned like the second half of a storm. Some nearby Zerg that were keeping their distance while I painted the target seemed to snap out of a trance and turn against me. But the few charging Zerglings and pair of hydralisks stopped short as a deafening roar split the night air, muffling the thunder and lightning. The little laser clicked, blinking out suddenly as an arc of lightning stretched across the sky. Zerglings suddenly exploded from Bane, flying through the air as a pair of giant scythes flung outwards from the pile, slinging the tiny enemies away. They rose out of the ripping carpet of Zerglings once more, and the deadliest of the Zerg strains tore free from the hold of the inferior creatures. The friend I knew was gone, replaced by a wicked thing that trampled through the broods on several armored legs with deadly curved scythes at the end of each one. The form of a massive lurker could be seen crushing dozens of Zerglings at once and cutting rows of hydralisks down with blades that dwarf those of the cumbersome ultralisks lumbering over their brethren to stop the mammoth beast. Bane threw his huge scythes into one of the ultralisks as they raised their Kaiser blades for the devastating attack, impaling it and then the world turned white. A burning hot light consumed my vision and the roar of the powerful nuclear explosion was the last thing I heard. I had a faint recollection of lying on my back, watching the ash rain down from the thundering sky above before everything went cold and dark.

Epilogue: Two days after Bane sacrificed his own life, for the second time, I sat up with a start and found myself staring at the dull yellow walls of a Protoss Citadel. At first I didn't believe the horrible nightmare I had was true until I made my way down the halls to the wide open door and the ruins of the Terran base and the smoldering desert grimly reminded me. The rebel faction was completely wiped out by the Zerg, Mengsk having deployed them, and some of his own men as well, in the desert to stop the Protoss from hindering his plans with the Zerg. Of the hundreds of men and women serving on the field that day, a mere handful returned home to tell others what they had seen. Rakeem and his brethren, their mission complete, scraped together a new fleet and bid me farewell, departing for their home world. The government fell into a state of disorder and eventually broke up without a leader. As for Mengsk, you know what happened to him. There were riots in the major cities and control of them fell to who ever had the biggest guns, but soon a uneasy peace settled again. The Zerg were never seen again, except for a few stray Zergling species that had turned feral and were incorporated into Khorhal's natural eco system. Packs never grew to numbers greater than four or five and there are have been no recorded accounts of an aggressive attack on Terrans resulting in a fatality.

As for me, life was very dull without my scythe-swinging companion, but it did go on. I quit the military and I haven't fired a weapon since; in truth I developed a particular distaste for machines-you could say I hated them. For decades, I have lived quietly in the tranquil, open spaces of Khorhal, enjoying the seemingly endless days of peace brought by Bane's sacrifice long ago. But I secretly yearn for the day of the Zerg's return, just for the chance to speak to my friend again; just to see the wicked hydralisk grin full of jagged teeth and hear his voice in my mind once more.

To Be Continued...


	11. Bane 11: A New Beginning

"Come forth, my children! Arise and claim your places at my side. The era of our perfection is at hand!" The booming voice shattered the silent calm of the void.

"Indeed, father. We live to serve." One by one, the Cerebrates slowly awakened, drawn out of their slumber by the overpowering will,

"Soon I will be made whole once more, and the swarms will be reborn."

The beings hesitated, "But Father, what about," They paused, perhaps in fear, "Him."

Vibes of fury and hate bordered the edges of the Overmind's will as it satisfied its minions' curiosity, "Though I still sense the renegade is among us, his thoughts elude me. But fear not, no cerebrate can stray from my will; there are more important events at hand, my children, than the threat of a single foe. The first born have avoided the inevitable for the last time, and we must strive to complete our conquest...but first the strains here must be purified. Although these Terrans have shown a slight psionic potential, they're reckless betrayal has proven them to be inferior. Once the swarms have grown in enough numbers, the Terrans shall fall quickly. For despite their slight development over the period of my dormancy, a lingering distrust and crippling strife still plagues them to this day."

...The roar of the raging battle had become nothing but a memory, buried by what seemed like an eternity in the dreary comfort of the void...hidden in my thoughts along with the flash of brilliant, consuming light that had first brought me here long ago...there is no passage of time in this place, the voices just came again; as I knew they inevitably would. But I was ill prepared for what befell me when the Overmind brought the crushing wrath of its will down on my essence. It was quick and venomous, flooding in and overtaking me like an angry sea that had been whipped into a fury by a malevolent wind. The swirling winds carried howling voices with them, of every pitch and tone. But as my ability to fight them dissolved in the sea of hate, they seemed to meld together to form one sublime voice who's every word crashed through my thoughts...Then the cold senses of the world took over once more...

The dilapidated halls of the crumbling facility were cracked with age and the lights and obsolete computer screens had long since given in to the darkness as well. A lumpy, living carpet covered the floor and stuck to the ceiling in veins of goo that dripped back down to the floor again, eating away at the ancient cement of the forgotten Terran facility in a never-ending cycle of accelerated corrosion. It has been this way for quite some time, as the creep had flowed all the way into the uncharted rock hallway bearing only a set of mangled hinges from where the door had been torn off long ago. The remains of the shattered glass of an ancient criotank, turned green from a layer of moss, stood silent witness to past events as the creep piled around the machine in clumps, stretching to the walls in purple fingers that pulsed and swelled. It was thicker in the wide hall that lead to this room, covering a decimated airlock door with the ever growing substance that crawled forth from the depths of this place, where life began to stir again...The depths...where the creep covered every inch of the high rock walls as well as the giant steel blast door that had rusted shut decades before the first drop of creep appeared...The scuttling drones stood silent guard and gave care to the brewing larva that spawned forth from odd structures jutting out of the creep. They soon crawled forward to join the hundreds of others in a massive demonstration of the Overmind's powerful control over them. Screeches and hissing echoed from this place as the numbers of defenseless worms changed, mutating at an accelerated rate to become creatures of their master's bidding...The huge facility became suddenly cramped as the great swelling eggs reached maturity and the things inside tore free from their thick, protective membrane...hundreds of clawed feet rattled against the floor as the mindless pawns sprang forth, rampant with the voices of a single being, one that wanted nothing but power and destruction...And so it became their desire, the single purpose that still held reason in a world that was otherwise lifeless...

...The consuming darkness was all around, saturating my world with a dull reality that muffled my every action. I strained to see and a fussy picture met my eyes; cracked, mossy walls enclosed me in this dark place with the others. The others were all around me, spewing forth from the hive clusters by the pair. I could sense the Overmind's will radiating from the numerous beings much like me, driving them into a frenzy for blood and destruction.. They lunged against one wall repeatedly, mindless slashing at it with their tiny scythes. I could feel it descending upon myself as well, and I nearly lost hold on my vision. Struggling to maintain concentration, I forced the blurry picture to return. When it did, I found my own blades amongst those of the others; slashing away at the barrier that withheld us in this dark prison. My own vicious snarls rang out with theirs, roaring with the anger and the fury the Overmind crushed us with. It grew louder and louder as our numbers multiplied by the pumping hatcheries. It called to us, urging us forth as I leapt through the ever widening gap in the ancient metallic door. Our lust for death was made anew by the presence of an alien species outside, but our urges to bring swift wrath to this single being were stamped out by the thundering voices,

"Stay your wrath, my children, it will lead you to more..."

This was not a suggestion or a command, it was exactly what we did. There was simply no defying the Overmind's whim. We watched as the creature promptly turned tail and ran at the first site of us. The thing used a machine to accelerate away from us at a rate that seemed pale in comparison to the noise it produced. It had only made a short distance before the will lifted, releasing our restrained thirst for battle...the chase was on...

It was another one of those dreams, they've plagued my nights regularly for as long as I can remember. Usually they are nightmares; scenes of gory battles and death drag by... Occasionally, I get lucky and they are not so violent. Only recently, they have risen more frequently and each one more intense than the last. Fortunately for me, this one was suddenly cut short as an indistinct voice pounded through the darkness and the ground rolled away and I began falling...

I fell out of my bunk and woke up when I hit the grated steel floor. A deep voice with a southern drawl hailed me,

"Get your lazy ass up, Reece! Sleepin' time's over."

I groaned, fighting the covers as I got up. "Hey, man, it's my day off!" I complained, staring groggily at my watch.

"I don't care if you're dead, get your shit. Everyone else has already left." The Captain barked before stomping back out of the dingy crews' quarters, letting the automatic airlock door slide shut behind him with the harsh sound of metal on rusted metal. The same irregular work hours and pathetic living conditions greeted me again at four in the morning. But for as young as I am, I'm lucky to have a place to sleep at all. I share a dingy little crews quarters with three other kids around my age, and I've only heard one story of how we came to be here in the first place: Once the governments supply lines started losing salvage vessels to the rebels, they started losing funds as well. The population was already stressed for new recruits, so the Republic of Korhal used the most readily available labor source to help maintain the remaining cargo ships: orphans. Don't be shocked about it. So woop-dee-doo, I don't have parents. Since the war broke out eight years ago, the panicking factions that held control of the Korporl sector suddenly began drafting all Terran civilians capable of fighting-parents or not. The drafting has declined sharply in the last year because the number of orphaned kids started growing larger than the ones still with their actual parents, but that hasn't helped the thick mainstream of corruption and crime that has gripped the entire sector for decades. Things aren't all bad; surprisingly, the economy is up and the threat of the invaders known as the Zerg haven't been seen for over a century, allowing the population to spread to the outlying planets again. So there you have it, that's all I know about the world outside of this lumbering hulk of metal that has been my home for most of my thirteen years. I was shipped here by an anonymous orphanage and put to work for nothing as soon as I grew strong enough to carry things around. Since then, not a lot has changed. I do work and simple repairs on the ship and recently Bill has taught me how to fly the rickety old transport and take shipments to the surface whenever we get an order. There are three other kids here and only two adults here with me on the ship. You've already met Captain Bill. Cletus and his loudmouth sidekick are okay, but I've always disliked them. They're unruly bastard's that yell and cuss all the time, always ordering me around while they argue over the last beer in the fusion locker. They don't seem the type to have kids around, but free labor is free labor. The other orphans, Jill, Randy, and Mike, are decent company, but there's never alot of free time to talk or hang out-it's actually a rarity when we're all together in the same place at once.

This morning, I sat down on the rusted metal frame of my bunk and pulled my boots on involuntarily, just like the countless ones before it. "My life sucks," I mumbled as I took one last look at the cramped bunks around me. I sighed, unable to figure out what gave me the will to climb out of bed every day as I stood up again and pressed the button to open my door. Little did I know, this was the day that my life would change forever.

I made my way through the familiar corridors of the salvage ship. It wasn't very complicated; how could it be with only two decks? Although it was a small ship, it was still a brisk walk to the stern of the "Rusty Bastard" as Cletus had so fittingly named her. There are only two bays that open to the vacuum of space. One is the big, slow cargo door in the main hold and the other is a small crafts launch bay. I stopped at the door, reaching out to the control panel that opened it and flipped the one switch Bill had replaced the keypad with after breaking it. The ancient hydraulic motor whined pathetically as the door clinked up inch by inch, slowly revealing the cramped little hangar. As my eyes adjusted to the dull light, I noticed two feet sticking out from beneath our dilapidated dropship, nicknamed the Bomb because of the unstoppable fuel leak it had developed over the decades of use. 

"It's about damn time, boy!! Mike's been gone with the first shipment for over an hour!" Cletus barked as he slid out from under the ship with a greasy wrench, "I've got eight K's of ore ready to go; take em to these coordinates." He reached into the top pocket of his dirty jumpsuit and pulled out a crumpled scrap of paper. I took it and Cletus stood up, uselessly brushing at the dust that matted his coveralls. It took me a moment to decipher his hieroglyphics, but I finally made it out.

"The capitol?!" I winced, "I hate Korhal!" Cletus frowned with exasperation,

"Do I look like I care?! Do as I tell you or you'll eat this wrench!" He shook a large crescent wrench in my face angrily. I stepped back, taking his threats quite seriously; particularly because he always carries them out. 

"Yessir," I droned in reply, pacing towards the dropship's dented hatch. I reached up to the handle above my head and jerked back on it. The rusted hinges creaked as the door opened and I climbed into the cockpit.

"Get back here as soon as you drop the supplies off, " Cletus added, "And don't you dare pull another stunt like last time, either." He's referring to my recent escape attempt with the dropship. I rolled my eyes and started flipping the switches on the dashboard in front of me. Although I'm barely big enough to see over the instrument panels, I know this old bird like the back of my hand. The stumbling turbine engines rattled to life and Cletus shook the wrench again, reminding me of what the consequences were if I screwed up somehow. A dull red light on the ceiling began flashing and the first airlock door rose up. I eased the controls forward, slowly maneuvering the ship into the tiny space. The door came down again as I flew through, sealing the air inside the bay. The second door opened, slowly revealing the black depth of space with the tiny specks of light that made up the constellations. I pulled out and throttled to the left, bringing the nose of the ship around. The dull planet of Tarsonis loomed into my view with the small red planet of Korhal far beyond. I sighed; this was going to be a long trip. The ship began accelerating after I set the auto-pilot and leaned back in the ripped up seat that was far too big for me.

"Might as well pick up were I left off," I said to myself, letting the hum of the engines put me to sleep.

...The rocky dessert terrain of this place flashed below...The others were all there with me, leaping in unison to my own claws as we pursued the machine in search of more like it, as the Overmind wished. And so we found this place we were promised...Its structures sat in dormant contrast to the dark night sky as the machine we chased raced into it. Although we expected heavy resistance, the base was quite and unguarded. We took full advantage of this. Stealing into the barracks and bunkers, we leapt upon the unsuspecting Terrans with brutal scythes. Few were ready to meet our assault, and those who did stand to oppose us were brought down with deadly efficiency...Our triumphed snarls filled the night sky as the last of the inferior creatures were destroyed and their machines razed to make way for our own creations...I could sense the Overmind was pleased with our victory, but many more must be won before the true might of the swarms could be unleashed...and so the lust for battle fell upon me again, as it did my brethren. In a flash, the dessert was passing below again...a new place had been found and it too must be purified...

...This one was greater than the last, and they were prepared in advance. Just as the boxy Terran structures began materializing out of the darkness, thumping explosions cracked from the distance, shaking the sand beneath my claws. There was a split-second of silence, save for the "Swish" of my every leap through the dessert terrain. Then the world blew up. Great crimson explosions erupted from the dunes, illuminating the Others and I with as a picture of dozens of zerglings being pulverized and scattered by the powerful arcitlite blasts. The fire was all around me, ripping at my carapace...seeking my life, but I did not fall in the flames. I finally leapt free unto the cool sand with a few of my brethren and the structures came into sight once more. We rushed to meet them, but these were not like the buildings from before. These fought back as well, bursting into flurries of light that threw a volley of stone at us, cutting our numbers away as we still approached. I could vaguely feel the pain of being sprayed with these projectiles, but the damage they caused was fatal. I stumbled into the rocky building and flailed at the reinforced cement with both scythes as my legs buckled beneath my own weight. I vaguely recall being pelted by the angry structures, but then my brethren poured around me, they had come to finish what I could not, surging against the buildings. But the explosions came again, deafeningly close this time. Everything fell silent as my brethren and I were engulfed in the roaring fireball, but the structures were also destroyed in the blast...

"We shall win the next battle," came the voices as the flames tore the world away and left me in the dark. I would have guessed that I had served my purpose in the swarm and that now I would be allowed to rest, but the void did not come. Instead, the swirling senses of reality returned yet again, as did the thundering voices. I fought them, but it was in vain. I soon found my claws in the sand once more...

There was the brief moment for thought that always came between the times of darkness. When the slaughter and confusion finally came crashing to a stop, and everything fell silent, the swirling madness lost its grip for a few seconds. Everything seemed the same at first, but I slowly realized the difference. Something was out there, drawing nearer. And with each passing moment, it grew stronger, further drawing back the curtain of unconsciousness that blotted out the world. I looked around, and for the first time, the things I saw made sense. I could recognize red sand beneath a set of clawed hind feet with a matching pair of bladed forelegs that stabbed idly at the sand. "Clawed feet? Blades?" I asked myself in this new dream. That was odd as well, usually a simple thing such as speech is also impaired in this place, but now thoughts and words rang through, clear as day. Then there was a flash, I was suddenly in the air and I quickly found out that this thing wasn't anything near human. It snarled and growled, thrashing around on the ground as if something was wrestling it into submission, although no enemy could be seen. The thing finally collapsed on the dunes and began trembling as a buzzing sound slowly penetrated my dreams. Everything began to grow blurry and dark again, but before I was swept away from this place, the creature turned directly towards me, staring dead into my soul. Just as everything plunged into the darkness again, a strange echoing voice ended the dream, "H-help M-m-me..."

I sat bolt upright in the pilot's seat in disbelief. I felt lightheaded as I looked around; I didn't even know where I was for a few seconds. The buzzing autopilot alarm finally registered to me and became an annoyance.

"Man," I groaned out loud to the empty ship, "I hate those dreams."

I shook my head in a vain attempt to clear my mind as I leaned forward and shut it off and I noticed the bustling desert world of Korhal that filled the windshield. Multiple orbital stations stuck out like sore thumbs around the planet. Tiny dots could be seen rocketing back and forth between them and the surface far below; it's a busy day as usual on the capitol. I hate going to this place, the rebels are the most active here. Wether its fighting other factions or ambushing the infamous Republic of Korhal, there's always a battle breaking out somewhere. I wanted to turn the ship around but I didn't have much of a choice. I could only sigh and ease the controls forward, preparing to descend to the surface. As I flipped the thrusters off and angled the ship into a sharp decline, the orbit light began flashing, indicating that I was entering the atmosphere. I yawned as flames began to billow up from the nose of the ship, eventually blotting out the view. The ripping turbulence outside the ship only translated to a dull static inside the makeshift armored shell of the Bomb. The thing flew like a rock, but it was built like tank. The controls shuddered in my hands as I eased back on them again, leveling the ship's decent a few degrees, but the intense heat of re-entry didn't fade away for nearly a whole minute. The flames died suddenly as I fired the engines again, revealing nothing but clouds in the wide wind shield. I swore and jerked the controls to the left as the cloud layer suddenly broke, revealing two convoys jetting over the capitol. I barely missed a wraith as I leveled the craft out, steering it away from the cargo ships and their over-protective escorts. The engines whined as I flew the ship with one hand and reached over to the co-pilot's seat and snatched up the paper Clem had given me. I read the chicken scratch again and sighed, "At least it's not in the middle of town." I poured the coal to the stuttering engines and turned the nose of the ship southwest, toward the industrial side of the city.

"You've gotta do something! People are dying out here!" The distress calls just kept coming this morning, but this one was more urgent than the last,

"The Rebels have rallied in large numbers and are pressing the attack against our defenses-They're attacking the front line as we speak! We're not gonna hold out much longer." 

"We're doing what we can, Lieutenant, my forces are scattered all over the city as it is."

"Please hurry!" croaked the officer at the other end of the line. The standing magistrate, General E. Warren, ended the transmission to the First defense Garrison that ended just like the other twelve calls he had made to every platoon under his command.

"Sir, we have another situation."

"What is it now?!" Demanded General Warren as he was assaulted with another message from the communications team,

"Multiple rebel signals have been detected approaching our sector from the east," came the wiry voice again.

"Put our defenses on full alert!" The general barked over the arsenal of personnel running the command deck of Korhal's Militia Reserve. An officer with a head set responded,

"Sir, we have an incoming transmission from the Rebel attack force."

"Patch it through!" General Warren barked gruffly. Static crackled from multiple speakers before a strange voice with a thick southern accent broke through firmly,

"Republic of Korhal, I don't know how and I don't know why, but eight of our outposts have mysteriously turned up missing during the past seventy-two hours. My associates and I believe that compensation is due. Knowing that you're our only enemy, we have ultimately chosen to retaliate immediately-" The general cut him off with a booming order to his command personnel,

"Battle stations!!"

The thrusters whined as I drew closer to the area marked on Clem's instructions. Small buildings began dotting the horizon as the city shrunk into the distance behind. Soon, they formed the shapes of missile turrets and a line of bunkers.

"Must be some kind of military joint," I said to myself as I entered their airspace. A platoon of tanks were also rumbling along the perimeter. It all centered around a huge facility made up of two multistory structures that joined at the top. The base was bustling with activity, but I still had no idea where to dock the ship at. I sighed and read the co ordinance again. It gave an address but this place was huge, I had no idea were to dock the ship at. The directions state that an air-traffic adjutant would radio in when I got close enough. I just shrugged my shoulders and sighed with boredom. The dull grey steel of the Bomb had become too bland long ago and I started looking around for other things to keep myself awake until I noticed a rotating yellow light on the west facing side of the building. I approached it and to my surprise, I found a tunnel. So I entered there. Afterall, Clem didn't teach me anything about warning sirens or a flashing light for that matter and I still hadn't been given further instructions by radio. The short corridor had brightly lit cement walls that ended abruptly, widening to form "Dock 24," as the simplistic letters stamped into the wall read. I was almost ready to turn the ship around and forget the whole thing, but the door to the hangar suddenly began opening. The wide steel hatch slid up, letting in four soldiers with some boxy looking armor. This wasn't unusual, but I gasped when they stopped in front of my windshield abruptly and raised their weapons. I could hear a demanding voice penetrate the high pitched thrum of the Bomb's engines,

"Get out of the ship!! You have ten seconds to comply!" I cut the engines abruptly and scrambled with my buckles. Easing the door open, I yelled out to them,

"What's the problem, Mack? This is just a delivery!" One of the marines sidestepped, aiming the gun at chest height as he came around to the open door. He had to aim his gun down to see me and he laughed when he did, "Hey, false alarm guys; it's just a kid!" The marine flipped his visor back and lowered the guass rifle out of my face some. He turned to me and seemed about to say something else but a dull explosion interrupted him. Shouts and gunfire erupted from the open door and more marines ran by. The soldier next to me turned in time to see A pair of dark figures bolt into the doorway and open fire with two automatic machine guns. I ducked while high caliber rounds peppered bounced around the hangar as the marines were cut down by the surprise attack. Impaler rounds pelted holes in the front of the Bomb as I watched the marine who had been threatening me a few seconds ago tumble to the floor in a hail of guass fire. My breath came in tight little bursts as terror suddenly gripped me. The two people who had stepped into the room stopped firing after the last marine fell and surveyed the hangar, sweeping their gun barrels from left to right as they watched for any movement. I hunched down in the pilots' seat, doing my best to hold my breath despite my racing pulse. Steam and smoke hissed from the front of my ship as more gunfire and a few screams came from the hallway behind them before one of the silhouettes said,

"All's clear in here, Cap'n!" With that, they turned and left me in the hangar with the dead marines. I desperately wanted to get out of there but I was petrified. I had never seen anyone get seriously hurt before, much less killed. This was too much for me, I couldn't take it all in at once and my brain seemed to shut down. I don't know how long I sat there trying to catch my breath, but finally, simple details came back as the shock wore off. I shook my head and flipped a few switches on the dashboard of the Bomb, only resulting in a couple dull buzzes, indicating that the vessel was incapable of firing its engines. I had no choice except to leave the hangar and find another way out, but I still had a hard time stepping over the body of the marine that lay in front of the dropship door in a pool of blood. Once I overcame that small obstacle, I walked quietly to the door, always looking over my shoulder at the dead bodies, as If they could do me harm somehow. I looked outside, finding nothing but the bullet dimpled walls of the hallway. "I'll just check the next hangar," I said out loud to myself, trying to keep my cool as I slowly stepped over the thresh-hold and turned toward the next door. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a deep voice with a thick southern accent rang out from behind me,

"Hey, Kid! Where'd you come from?!" My hands trembled as I stopped and slowly looked back. A rebel marine stood in the hall with his gauss rifle aimed at my back. I could hear more of them coming, drawn by the commotion. Now that I look back on this situation, I probably would have been okay if I listened to the Rebels, but the thirteen-year-old mind can only comprehend so much.

"Stop right there!" He yelled in vain as the fear and confusion finally became too much and I panicked, taking off down the hallway at a sprint.

"The planet is nearly ours!" The voices proclaimed wickedly, "Every known small encampment of the accursed Terrans has been consumed and now it is time now to move to the second phase of my plan. Soon I will release the entirety of the swarms upon this world, but first the path must be prepared. The Terrans' strife is at its peak, go my children, make certain that nothing stands in the path of the swarm. Cripple the Terran defenses..."

The large compound lay in the distance. Once a shining place bearing forces to be reckoned with, it now looked small and weak in contrast to the plumes of black smoke rising from within. The strange creature's weapons could be heard far away, chattering and thumping. They were fighting each other, as the voices said, and now was our chance to strike...The urges to kill and maim forced their way in and we leapt in perfect unison with only one goal in mind: The death of the enemy to ensure victory for the swarm. It was the clearest thought I had as my flicking claws stretched for more sand with each leap. No fire rained from the outskirts of this place, so we continued into its depths unchecked. As we entered the outer walls of the Terran's compound, I found the battle between the Terran's was still waging. Clumsy looking creatures brandishing hand held weapons launched their projectiles back and forth at each other. Tall mechanical beasts could be seen standing above them all, cutting their own brethren down by the dozen. "They are all enemies of the swarm...Eradicate the infidels..." came the overpowering will, flinging itself upon us...I had no control; I leapt, burying both scythes in my nearest foe with the force of the landing. Few were met that offered resistance, and they were all brought down by our fury...

...Then the voices quickly fell silent and my pumping legs slowed some as a sudden numbness took over, a feeling of freedom that was once familiar. I tried to ignore this thing, but it only grew and grew as my feet carried me further into the Terran compound, dwarfing even the thundering voices that yearned for murder...Time seemed to slow down as I rounded the next corner and literally ran into the source of this disruption...

The marines jogged to catch up with me, but their bulky powersuits slowed them down and I was able to keep ahead. Wide doors crawled by as I ran and I looked back to see if the marines were still on me. Their thudding footsteps and cursing had faded back quite a distance. I would have slowed to a stop and found a better escape route, but I ran into solid rock before I could turn my head forward again. I slammed into it at a dead run and bounced off, stumbling backwards to land hard on my backside.

"Damn," I swore, rubbing my forehead before looking up to see what I had run into. My breath caught in my throat. The fear from watching the marines being killed was nothing like this. Monsters stood in the hallway; brown creatures with deadly sickles protruding from their limbs. They all appeared to be the same, all four of them, except for the largest one, which slowly moved closer and stared at me, slobbering drool and snarling slightly. I wanted to scream as the thing stalked forward with its two clawed hind feet and bladed fore-arms. It's face somewhat resembled a human skull, but it kept going to form a protective shield that flared out over the thing's neck and back. My hands shook as I groped for the floor behind me in an attempt to crawl away while my mind finally croaked out the answer. I had seen them before in old pictures and video's-but I never actually believed that they exist. The lead zergling growled as I began to move, so I stopped abruptly. I could hear the marines catching up from down the hall as it stepped over my outstretched feet and stood very close to me. It's stinking breath huffed in my face while it's dark red eyes focused directly on mine. I panted as it gaped at me, but a sudden feeling of calm overtook me as a strange voice echoed into my mind. I wasn't sure if what I thought I heard was real until it came again, more audible now,

"...You..." 

"What?!" I stammered out loud. Time froze as more words came, clearer this time,

"...You...can hear me...I'm able to...think..." I was at a loss for words; I didn't know zerglings could speak telepathically. I remained silent and it broke through once more,

"Who are you?... Where am I?" I'm not sure wether it was my own curiosity or the 14 inch scythes hanging in my face that caused me to answer the questions,

"I'm R-Reece and t-this is Korhal." At that instant, the flow of time returned to normal, but the zergling's waiting patiently behind the one that spoke to me suddenly exploded in angry growls and squeals, lunging for me with their blades. I closed my eyes with the sudden movement, but the harsh sound of scythe meeting carapace rang out. I opened my eyes again to see the zerglings in a tangled dog pile with the big one that talks. I stood up as they screeched and snarled, smashing from wall to wall in a deadly fight of blades. It growled and slashed at the two of the others, but one still leaked by. The strange voice came again, but urgent this time,

"Run, Mortal, Run!!" I didn't have to be told twice. I only stumbled a little as I took off back up the hallway. I left the scene of the brawling creatures behind as one of the zerglings leapt up the hallway after me. It sailed through the air, barely low enough for the ceiling, before landing with a heavy thump and leaping again, landing closer this time. I looked over my shoulder and found it to be only a few feet behind now. The Zergling stopped and bunched its feet together for one last jump, but before it could spring at me, the big one from before saved me again. A distant snarl caught my attention, and I saw the creature fly through the air in a graceful arc, landing on the aggressive one with scythes wide open. They toppled to the floor in another rolling, deadly fight as I rounded the next corner and got away again. But just as I ran into the zergling, I ran flat into some marine's power suit, stopping dead and falling down again. The two marines I had run into looked down and bent over, grabbing me by the arms and jerking me to my feet. 

"Just where do you think you're going, kid?!" One of them barked at me.

"Put me down!!" I yelled back, kicking and struggling against the marines' strong hold. 

"What the hell's your problem, boy?! We're not trying to hurt you,"

"You don't understand!" I argued with them, "There's this thing down the hall-"

"Shut up!" The other one interrupted me, "We just cleared this hall; there's nothing-" He stopped short as that angry snarl rang out again. The two marines began to turn around at the sound, but they were far too late. The zergling was in mid-air already, and it smashed all three of us over backwards as it landed scythes first against the chest plating of the left marine. The soldier screamed and yelled in pain as the zergling maimed him, stabbing one scythe after the other through the reinforced armor the marines wore. "Get outta the way!" The second marine yelled to me as he sat up with his guass rifle, but the offending zergling turned, lunging right by me to the second marine. He was hit so hard that the back of his power suit crashed against the cement wall. The snarling creature flailed it scythes left and right, slashing pieces of armor away before thrusting them both forward. I winced as I heard the rip of flesh and a few crunching bones, followed by the marine's agonizing scream of pain. He dropped his weapon and the zergling shoved it out of reach, stepping over the mutilated body of the first marine to me. I should have been terrified, but I believe shock hid that at this point.

"W-What are you going to do to me?" I asked with a breaking voice.

"Get up," The voice commanded. I did so and gasped as I stood to my full height. The ancient video records show zerglings to be no bigger than a large dog, but I was just barely taller than this one. The panting creature had to look up slightly to see my face as it's mind spoke to mine again,

"I do not know how or when I got here, but I am sure of one thing: you're in great danger. The Terrans here are in a raging conflict amongst themselves as the swarms gain more and more control over your planet-"

"This isn't my planet," I interrupted. The zergling clacked its jaws together,

"Than you won't mind abandoning it. We must leave this place before the zerg's real attack arrives."

"We?" I asked, appalled.

"Yes, we," the zergling growled back, "You must come with me if you want to live."

"I'm not going with you!!" I yelled back as the zergling turned around and began stalking away. It stopped and looked back, 

"Mortal, you obviously don't understand your own significance right now-" The creature stopped as the lights flickered twice and went out, plunging the cooridoor into complete darkness. Multiple growls and snarls began echoing throughout the facility as the creature spoke again,

"Nevermind! I'll explain later, kid! C'mon!"

"I can't see!" I yelled back. The zergling came back to me, able to see the pack of hungry zerg bounding up the hallway after us. "You'll never out run them, get on!" Came the message from the dark. I was very confused by now, but the sound of the unseen enemies drawing closer was encouragement enough for me. I found the creature's solid back in the dark and climbed on. "Hold on!" was the only warning I got as the thing fairly exploded beneath me. I nearly lost balance and had to cling to the rim of the zergling's protective skull to stay on as it made 12 feet at a time with each powerful leap. The thing seemed to carry my 100 pounds effortlessly as it bounded through the dark. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face until lights began reflecting off the walls.

"Watch out!" The zergling warned as I spotted the suit lights of marines just ahead. We passed through the beams a few times in the process of leaping and the marines opened fire.

"Shit!!" I swore, hunching behind the zergling's big armored skull. The retort of the gauss rifles was incredibly loud in the cramped hall as bullets bounced and ricocheted off the rocky carapace.

"What the?!" I heard someone say as another leap carried us through the squad of marines. They toppled over like bowling pins as we went through them. Suit lights flashed in every direction as the zergling landed on a marine and kicked off of him, launching us down the hall. 

"Were are you taking me?!" I asked desperately. Gunshots and screeching zerg could be heard as our pursuers assaulted the marines we passed in the hallway. Suddenly, the zergling leaned back and came sliding to a stop. There was a tiny winding sound that grew in the darkness just ahead as the creature that carried me scrambled for traction again on the grated floor. Four blazing auto cannon barrels lit the hallway and stray bullets pelted the zergling's light carapace for a brief moment before we made a hard turn down the next hall, leaving the two cumbersome goliaths in the dust. The zergling started sliding to a stop again, but this time it suddenly jolted to a halt with a loud metallic clang. I fell off in the dark and hit the floor hard. "What are you doing?!" I asked irritably. I could hear those scythes wrenching against some kind of metal. "Help me open this door!" It demanded. This thing apparently meant no harm to me, so I decided to help. I got up and groped around in the dark for this door it was struggling with when I found the elevator. The double sliding doors were open by about four inches. I grabbed one side and with both of us pulling, the doors slowly began to open. The dead electric motors complained as the two doors finally parted enough for us to pass through. I was about to walk into the opening when the zergling suddenly shoved me back,

"Hey! If your looking for an elevator, you're only going to find a sixty foot drop in there." Suddenly, that familiar whining sound in the dark came from behind us and the zergling growled,

"Hold on tight!!" I scrambled onto its back again and the zergling moved to the opening and kicked off from the edge as bullets riddled the elevator doors. We hit the opposite side of the empty elevator shaft with dull clang and I slammed against the zergling's solid carapace with the impact and nearly lost my grip. I began to panic as I found only open air under my dangling feet but the zergling hushed me with a sharp hiss of warning. Then the thing began shifting around in the dark and I could hear metal wrenching against those scythes. I yelped as we suddenly dropped, but then felt sort of dumb when we stopped only a foot into our fall.

"Shut up and hold on," the thing growled as it hacked another hole in the elevator shaft and we dropped again. The zergling began making slow but steady progress, climbing down a foot or so at a time, and I was starting to wonder if I would ever be able to see again. Then, as if someone were reading my thoughts, tiny maintenance lights began blinking on in the black fathom of the elevator shaft. They steadily rose up to meet us, and soon the entire shaft was illuminated with a dull yellow light.

"The power's back on!" I exclaimed cheerfully, "They must have stopped the zerg."

"They'll be back," The zergling dully reported. I looked over my shoulder to the bottom of the elevator shaft three floors down and my vision began to swim a little bit.

"What's that noise?" The zergling suddenly asked.

"What noise?" I asked back.

Then the elevator shaft began trembling slightly.

"Oh no! The power's back on!" I complained. A humming sound came from above and I looked up to see the jagged bottom of the elevator dropping down to us. The zergling picked up the pace but it was no use. We had barely made it below the second floor and it was nearly on top of us. I could do nothing but cling to the zergling and watch in terror as the elevator plummeted straight down... Then it suddenly stopped a few inches above us. We hung there silently as booted feet drummed on the floor of the elevator and the doors slid shut. The humming sound came again, but to our relief it began climbing back up the shaft. The zergling resumed its climbing and we finally made it down far enough for me to let go and drop to the floor. After I moved out of the way, the zergling jerked its scythes free of the wall and dropped down as well. The shaft grew silent for a moment as the elevator rose away and I could hear a dull thumping and chattering through the closed doors of the elevator. The zergling paid it no heed and lunged for the double doors, using its momentum to wedge its scythes between them. The safety system on the doors kicked in as the zergling began pulling the doors apart and they opened the rest of the way with their electronic bell noise. They parted to reveal a fierce firefight between the Rebels and the Republic on the ground bay. The main doors to the facility were blasted open and the Korhalians were fighting to keep the Rebels from invading, but the emergency exit was intact behind a pair of chattering goliaths. 

"There's no way out," I stammered as the elevator doors closed again automatically, "We're trapped."

"Not for long; the swarms will return any second with enough broods to keep your mortal counterparts busy for quite a while," the zergling unexpectedly answered. The elevator shaft was eerily calm, save for that tiny humming noise that slowly grew again.

"It doesn't look like there's time to wait for them," I said as I noticed the elevator about five floors above and dropping. The zergling didn't waste any time.

"Listen closely, kid," It spoke telepathically with a verbal growl, "I'm going to...distract the machines. You must run; get as far away from here as you can."

"Wait a minute, this facility is on the outskirts of the city!" I argued back, "What am I supposed to do? Go wander around in the desert?"

"No," the thing hissed in return, "I'll help you; I give you my word."

"There's no way I'm going anywhere-How do I know I can trust something like you?!" I began to yell as the elevator fell foot by foot. When I said that, the zergling didn't say anything else. It only glared at me with its fiery red eyes a brief moment before pouncing against the doors, snarling as it forced them open again. The fierce sound of battle spilled in and the zergling lunged outside with one springing leap. I watched for a moment as the small beast raced to meet one of the goliaths before I suddenly realized what it was doing. I squeezed between the double doors as they began to close again, and the battle seemed much more real. Bullets wizzed by and bounced off the reinforced concrete walls as the marines and goliaths had their backs to us, returning fire on the rebels. I began to run for the door as the zergling closed the distance and leapt for the machine, landing scythes first atop one of the goliath's bulky cockpits. The pilot swivelled the torso of the walker around in a vain attempt to throw the screeching monster off. The zergling seemed to be a different creature when it fought; it stabbed and slashed at the armored plating with an unnatural rate of speed that sent small bits and pieces of the metal reeling in all directions. For once, I didn't waste any time. I turned on the scene and bolted for the emergency exit. I tackled the latch and shoved the door open, revealing a short hallway with a glowing red sign above the door at the end.

I stepped outside into hot red sand and it swallowed my boots whole. The grey side of the building seemed to crawl by as I turned right and began trudging along. But before I realized my mistake, I rounded one corner of the building and found the Rebel forces fighting their way inside. I had gone the wrong way, but the Rebels aren't what scared me; the brackish cloud billowing over the land behind them seemed much more threatening. It got closer and I realized that this is what the old history books and ancient video disks told of. This innumerable mass of creatures, twisted with mutation, roared ahead at full speed without the slightest hint of hesitation. I closed my mouth, I hadn't realized it was hanging open as I attempted to turn and run, but my legs felt like led. Some of the Rebels turned and opened fire on the herd of zerglings while the others kept up the firefight with the Korhalians, but it wouldn't have mattered in the least if they all rallied against the swarm, anyway. The zergling was right, I had to get out of here. My legs finally started obeying me and I turned around again, going back the way I had come.

...I got one short glimpse of the mortal turning and bolting through the door before the machine rotated beneath me, despite the considerable damage my blades were causing to it. I could sense the Terran inside the clumsy metallic shell panicking with fear as one of my blows crushed the transparent surface covering the front side. The glass shattered and the machine's weapons sang to life, but I was sure to stay clear of them. Nearby marines came to assist their comrade with chattering gauss rifles. I couldn't help snarling in pain as the bullets pelted my back and the goliath suddenly toppled over, taking me with it. I was thrown to the floor, but I was up again just as quickly. More bullets bounced off the floor and shot by me this time as I lunged for the closest Terran, but my leap was cut short by a devastating stream of firepower. Everything seemed to catch fire as the onslaught of metal shards punished my light carapace. I stumbled in the hail; I knew this small being that I now inhabited was weaker than my true form, but I didn't realize just how vulnerable it is to mass weaponry. Until now. The marines used their stim-packs, redoubling their efforts. I believe I tried to wail with agony as my limbs crumbled beneath me and I faltered in the blaze, but my throat would only produce a nauseating gurgle sound. My world swam with terrible anguish as I demanded my limbs to lift me off the ground once more, but I couldn't move. The taste of blood filled my mouth and suddenly, I couldn't draw another breath. A dark, warm liquid oozed across my vision as the Terran weapons faded away and everything went mercifully numb, but not before the sound rose in intensity to match a new one...a stronger one...a sound that howled from so many throats that they all grew together to form one static roar...the swarms had arrived...

Then everything went dark, silent and cold...I was near despair with my own failure but once again, the gloom of the void did not claim me...Instead, the voices returned in its place. They carried the Overmind's sinister wrath with them; it roared in like a firestorm and consumed my essence, despite my attempts to fight it again...I could no longer fight it...I fought for it...

Reality came crashing back with a vicious light that vanished as suddenly as it appeared... I found my unscarred claws raping harshly against the stone floor of the Terran facility. The inferior ones stood to oppose us once again, but now we were many against their few...And so they used their noisy contraptions to hurl pieces of metal at us, but to no avail...I ignored the wounds stricken upon me and lunged for the nearest Terran, as was the Overmind's want...as the others among me obeyed as well. The inferior creature could muster little resistance while I tore away at its synthetic armor and obediently hacked it to death with repeated slashes of my blades. Many more fell on my scythes, though I cannot recall any particular number of them, before the voices came crashing anew...

"Well done, my children! Their defenses are finally broken...Scour the perimeter, let not a Terran survive!"

And it was so...Visions crossed my dull reality, gnarled images from a nearby overlord...We were off in chase of one of many stray Terrans awaiting purification...the three flat surfaces that made up the Terran hallway raced by for a split second...then the small creature was in my sight, stumbling ahead pathetically as we leapt nimbly atop the sand in pursuit...I took the lead, ready to pounce upon my enemy with deadly claws, but something struck me...I had seen this before...Crushed beneath the will of the Overmind, the world holds no memory, yet here was something familiar...Then I remembered...I remembered my promise...

Frantic gunfire and explosions from the artillery echoed across the desert, booming from just around the corner in the ground bay. The Zerg's minions were piling into the base, nothing was safe. Soon the firing seemed to die out, but then, I heard the muffled sound of more gunshots from inside the facility. Great winged fliers screeched overhead, raining gluave wurms throughout the Terran complex. I heard a crash and turned around to see the emergency exit door topple off its hinges. Zerglings spilled from the open doorway and swerved in my direction. "Oh Shit!" I yelped as I struggled through the dense sand. More Zerg poured from around the side of the building from the Ground bay; the entire base was swamped with them. There was no way I could outrun them, they were easily three times faster than me and gaining by the second. I stopped and looked around for anything that could possibly give me an advantage, but there was nothing. The perimeter of bunkers and missile turrets were gone, as was the platoon of siege tanks. I had made just a short distance from the main compound, where a few gunners from turrets on the sides still helplessly fired down at the broods. With only miles of open desert behind me, and the swarm of Zerglings bounding for me from the other side, I was as good as dead. Despite my usual ability to keep my cool, my own age caught up with me again and I became petrified with fear. I could barely stand with my trembling feet as the blood-thirsty monsters got closer and closer. I closed my eyes, I was too afraid to watch as one of them leapt ahead of the others with a sudden burst of speed; lunging with its deadly scythes outstretched.

"What the?!" I asked out loud in confusion as I heard it slide to a stop in the sand next to me.

"C'mon, kid!!" Came that strange voice again. I looked up and I thought I'd never be so happy to see that little fiend again,

"It's you!" I exclaimed hastily as I scrambled onto its back. It shot off again before I had a grip and I nearly fell off once more. As I glanced over my shoulder, I realized that the zergling had arrived just in time. It's counter parts had mimicked its attack and fell just short after we took off like a rocket, leaving them in the dust.

"Where's the seat-belt?!" I thought hopelessly as the zergling sped up. Unlike in the enclosed halls of the terran facility, the agile creature was able to launch itself forward on the open terrain. The large, serpent-like creatures with the deadly curved scythes were far too slow and stopped suddenly as the zerglings continued the chase. But before the Hydralisks turned to head back to the rest of the swarm, the upper half of their bodies split open and they unleashed a volley of long green spines. The zergling must have been waiting for this. Despite our already considerable speed, the creature lunged forward, almost jerking me off again as it pushed its top speed to the limit. A few stray needles clipped the dunes around us as the pursuing squad of zerglings fell right into the trap; they were caught in the brunt of the hail and half of them got maimed by the raining needles. They tumbled to a stop in the sand, but somehow, three of them had made it through the volley. We were covering ground at an incredible rate, but the zergling was panting heavily from over-exertion, and its leaps started growing shorter and shorter. The others were a few steps behind now and closing fast. Suddenly, the zergling dug its claws into the sand and slid to a halt, coincidentally slinging me off its back and throwing me clear as our pursuers instantly collided with it like runaway missiles. The tumbling mass of carapace, snarls and thrashing scythes rolled to a stop and began to kick up dust as I pushed myself off the ground and spit out a mouthful of sand. I shook my head to clear my eyes and found the three zerglings back on their feet and stabbing away at the big one on the ground. All it could do was perry blows with its scythes in attempt to save itself. I had no weapon of any kind, so I did the only thing a child could do in this situation. I bent down and picked up rocks from the sand and threw them by the fistfuls. The sad little projectiles made tiny dull tapping noises as they bounced harmlessly off the creatures' backs, but by a stroke of luck, it got their attention for a split second. It was just long enough for the zergling to slam both clawed feet into one of his enemies, toppling it over backwards. A shrill squeal pierced the hot dessert air as the zergling slung both its scythes into the underside of the other, lifting it off the ground with the impact. Dark red blood gushed from the dying creature as the third zergling lunged with a sharp growl of outrage, attacking while its enemy was occupied. I watched as the big one didn't hesitate, heaving its dead foe up for a shield, but the zergling that was kicked got to its feet again. It turned to me with a pair of foggy, mindless eyes and leapt with scythes outstretched. I ran-tripped through the dense sand, and the zergling missed the first lunge, hitting the ground right behind me. It snarled before diving again, and I saw stars as it tackled me to the ground. I tried to scream, but I had a mouthful of sand again. Searing pain ripped down my spine as the zergling began slashing my back open with its scythes, making four deep lacerations. The last thing I saw was the zergling lunging for the death blow before it suddenly vanished with a flash of carapace and claws. Then everything went dark...

To Be Continued...


	12. Bane 12: Hero's Awakening

Authors note: As some may have noticed from the last chapter, there has been a few changes over the previous chapters. Starting from chapter 11, the Bane series enters a new season. Although this extremely short authors note doesn't reveal many answers to the questions you have, I will let you know that, unlike the first season, the second season is told using a duel-first person style. Whenever you see a set of 's, know that the point of view is changing to a different speaker, usually either Bane or Reece, but occasionally someone else tells a part of the story. I know you're alittle confused by the sudden changes, but bear with me-good things come to those who wait.

Enjoy!

I awoke to pain. Darkness was everywhere and when I moved the pain intensified, making the breath catch in my throat with a pathetic whimper. I held perfectly still, as not to stir the awful hurt again, and I could take tiny lung-fulls of air. As the throbbing in my back subsided some, I could recognize the feeling of cool sand beneath me and, ironically, the taste of it in my mouth. I turned my head and did my best to spit it out and found that I was laying face first on the ground. I opened my eyes again and they focused on the dim yellow light of a smoky little fire at my side. It's dancing glare cast a small circle of visibility in what appeared to be a sea of impenetrable darkness. My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I could make out a black sky with bright stars among the shadow. Then, as I noticed a strange figure on the other side of the fire, that voice pierced my mind again and I remembered where I was,

"Oh good, you're not dead." The zergling was sitting back on its haunches, watching me as I writhed on the ground with my pain,

"Take it easy, kid, those wounds are pretty deep."

"You...what happened? Wha-what's going on..." the smoke from the fire began to drift into my face and burn my eyes, interrupting my train of thought and ending my sentence in mumbles. The zergling stirred the fire some with one scythe and the smoke died down as it responded to my question,

"The Terran facility where I found you has been completely destroyed. Tomorrow, the adjacent city and every other major settlement on this planet will follow," it said with a slight verbal growl, "And you were attacked by a zergling." I could only produce an exasperated sigh as I put my palms to the sand and slowly began to push myself into a sitting position. Too fast. The pain in my back came roaring to life once more and I had to bite my tongue to keep from whimpering again.

"But aren't YOU a zergling?" I hissed between my clenched teeth.

"I believe so," the creature answered, looking at its own scythes and clawed feet as if noticing them for the first time.

I finally managed to sit up, "Then why did you save me?" The puzzle clogged my brain, I was desperate for some kind of answer. The creature's red eyes seemed to emit a light of their own as it sighed, stirring up a little whirlwind of dust on the dessert floor,

"I'm not sure how to explain this, but your presence radiates a unique psionic call. It has weakened the Overmind's control over me, but I fear that if you are slain, then I may be forced to succumb the will of the swarms forever."

The zergling's explanation didn't help my confusion much, but I was still grateful for the rescue, 

"Well, for whatever screwed up reason you had, thanks anyway. I suppose I owe you one, for what its worth from a kid like me." The zergling nodded, but it didn't take its eyes away from the glaring red flames that separated us as I continued,

"But what about these Zerg? Can't they be stopped?" The zergling faced me again but there was a different tone to its psionic voice that I couldn't quite place,

"...Indeed, there is a way, but you are far too young to meddle with such danger. My only priority, right now, is your safety." I was going to rebuttal about the zergling saying I was young; it always got my blood boiling when others judged my ability by my age, but I held my tongue this time.

Once again, silence took over, save for the sounds of our dying campfire. The creature shook its head and seemed to snap out of a trance. It then balanced on one of its clawed feet and used the free one like a hand, picking up something from a pile next to it and stacking it on the fire. The flames licked between each claw, wrapping around the thing's foot as it arranged what it was holding. The limb only smoldered a little after the zergling jerked it back out of the fire and fanned it around to cool it. Watching the thing perform this amusing trick seemed to ease my pain some, and I managed a weak chuckle that made my back throb,

"How on the planet did YOU make a fire?!" The zergling seemed surprised that I would ask,

"It wasn't easy, trust me. It took all day and into the evening to get one going!" I was about to ask it what it had found to burn in the middle of the desert, too, but the zergling spoke first,

"Do you think you can walk?" it asked.

"I dunno," I mumbled, "Why?" The zergling got up and stretched like a cat, reaching out to the full extent of its scythes before replying,

"Because it will be much easier to travel at night. We must find a way off this planet." I began to shiver in the cool night air and I inched closer to the fire,

"There was the cargo vessel I came here in, but it was trashed by those marines back at the compound."

"We'll find another one. Go ahead and try to walk, kid." With the zergling's help, I was able to get to my feet easily enough, but the effort of walking tightened the muscles in my back and the slashes seemed to burst into flames, making my steps slow and clumsy.

"No good," the zergling shook its head in disgust and leapt to my side in a single, effortless bound.

"Get on." It ordered. I sighed and gingerly climbed onto its spiky, armored back and held onto the rim of its skull.

The zergling began a gentle stride that moved us along at about a human's jogging pace and my injuries didn't complain as much as I thought they would. When I became accustomed to the uncomfortable ride, I finally broke the silence, 

"It's a long way to the city. Do you think we'll beat the rest of the zerg there?"

"I hope so," The zergling replied. The night was deadly calm, save for the sound of the creature's footfalls in the sand and the steady huff of its breath.

"Just one more thing," I said. It responded with a brisk,

"Yes, Mortal?"

This was another one of the questions that had been plaguing me,

"Do you have a name?"

I don't know how far I rode along in silence. Sometimes I nodded off, slumped against the rim of the zergling's armored skull. Bane didn't seem to mind much, he only trudged onward, bringing the looming buildings of the city closer and closer from the horizon. It was a fitful sleep though, bouncing along atop a trotting zergling. But I believe I was nearly out again before being jarred back to reality by an unforeseen hole Bane had accidentally stepped in. I rubbed my eyes with my clenched fists in an attempt to wake myself as a deep yawn forced its way up my throat. I began to stretch as well, but the pain in my back started to flare up again with the effort, so I stopped. After taking a quick look around, I found that it was obviously close to morning. At one side, the black horizon was giving away to the bright pinks and yellows of Korhal's morning suns and the temperature was climbing. The dull glow was slowly getting stronger, illuminating the frozen desert landscape with hues that matched the sky, seeming to make the two blend together. It all looked unreal, almost artificial; as if someone had painted it on.

"Have you been carrying me all night?" I asked. The zergling answered my question, but it held a steady pace.

"Indeed, but to me, it matters not." As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I was suddenly shocked by the distance we had covered. A few large buildings and other structures seemed only a few miles away with the dark shapes of the city's interior filling the space between them. It was a boringly familiar, yet, welcome sight, but something was amiss. The sky above and around the city lacked the swarm of busy morning air-traffic. Besides the Republic's wraith squadrons, the only vessels in the air were a few stray commuter ships that appeared to be leaving the city at full speed. As we drew closer, I could make out several newer structures and objects that bordering the first streets and low-roofed ware houses-it only took a moment of thinking and about 20 yards more before I could confirm my suspicions: The Republic militia was deployed in full force in response to the zerg threat. Bunkers and siege tanks lined the edges of the city. The zergling noticed this as well and began slowing down,

"How are we going to enter the city?" it asked. I slapped my forehead for forgetting,

"Oh yeah, they'll probably shoot at you. I didn't think about that." The zergling started walking again,

"Nevertheless, we must find a way off this planet. I sense the swarms are close now.."

"Yeah," I agreed, "But at least we beat them here."

"Vice Admiral! Why have the rebels attacked so suddenly?" It was one tedious question after another during the press conference this day, but answering them had become a mindless, mechanical thing for ranking officers of the Republic.

"We still do not have confirmation of their motives at this point but we'll keep you posted as the information is made available to us," the admiral spouted. The reporters jotted on their notepads and held their microphones high to gather every syllable, but they were never satisfied,

"Have their been any radio contacts with the outpost seen under attack yesterday?" another reporter asked, but the officer was ready with another lie just as fast,

"Yes. The last transmission was received no more than two hours ago. The forces stationed at the Reserve have driven back the advancing enemy invaders with minimal loses and are being evacuated from their current position to the city as we speak."

One down, but many more to go; the press never gets enough propaganda in times of tragedy,

"What about the rumors that the recent reappearance of the zerg is all part of the Rebels' attack plan?" One blurted. Camera's flashed and the room fell to silence as the officer addressed his next question,

"These rumors are completely unfounded; the rebels are currently under attack by the zerg, just as we."

"And what about us? What does the Republic plan to do about the zerg advance?"

"The Republic," he answered calmly, "has deployed a number of troops to the borders of the capitol to keep the zerg at bay until we have found a way to eliminate them." The room full of people erupted into a state of chaos. The admiral could barely make sense of them, but relief had come. One of the MP's standing guard behind the admiral and his podium received a transmission through his headset and stepped forward, telling the admiral the news. The vice admiral finally held his hands up for silence and the sea of frothing reporters hushed each other,

"Our priorities are simple; the Republican guard will remain in place until further notice. Evacuation is not mandatory as of yet, but civilians are urged to stay in their homes-it not much safer in the air than it is down here." Without another word, the officer turned from the podium and began marching off stage to the waiting escort of MP's.

"Wait, just one more question!" The reporters from the UNN and channel three blurted to accompany the bombardment of their flash photography. The highly decorated officer in first class uniform held his hands up in attempt to deflect the ravaging press. The doors to the press room slammed shut as the commander and his advisors met in the hall and started their march toward the elevator.

"Are the troops in place yet?" the admiral asked, "These hot-head reporters are breathing down my neck for details." A wiry looking second lieutenant was the first to respond,

"Sir, First and third squadrons are in position. The fourth wraith fleet is in the air and the second one is in transit now." The military personnel held a steady march as they talked. The people governing the Republic were corrupt, but they still did their jobs well, and this was no exception; everything was business.  
"Good work, Lieutenant. How much longer until we have a complete lock-down of the city?" The elevator stopped and the doors slid open with a hiss to reveal the command deck of the Republican Armed Forces,

"Minutes, Sir-All but the outer fringes of the city have been sealed off."

"Excellent, you may return to your post Lieutenant," the vice admiral said as he approached the console. 

"Admiral, sir," spoke one of the communications officers, "We are receiving a signal from the fourteenth perimeter squad.."

"Patch it through, sergeant." The commander responded. Static crackled from the intercom speakers and noise began to break through; heavy footsteps and panting became audible, then the random pops and rattles of gunfire. The communications team boosted the signal and a voice suddenly accompanied the noise. It was full of breaks and the speaker was in a panic, making it difficult to understand what was said,

"Repeating, this is perimeter patrol fourteen requesting immediate evac!"

The communications officer responded quickly,

"Copy that, squad fourteen, we have you now. What's the problem down there?!"   
More static blared before the frantic gunfire returned, only it was more desperate this time,

"They're everywhere! It doesn't matter how many we kill, we need that extraction!" the signal began to break up again.

"Roger that, squad fourteen, vessels en route to your position," The communications officer responded as he relayed the request to air control.

"Your birds are already in the air-ETA in three minutes. Fall back to the evacuation zone for extraction, Squad fourteen." Static was the only reply. The communications officer, and consequently everyone else on the command deck, waited a cold fifteen seconds in silence before the commander repeated the order from his override console,

"Sergeant, you are to lead your men back to the extraction point. Do you copy?" The eerie static returned once more before the com-officer cut the sound from the intercom,

"We've lost the signal, sir."

"Then get it back!" The commander blared, "We havn't had an MIA in years and we're not about to start-" The com-officer interrupted as he received a new transmission,

"Wait, Sir, we have one incoming as we speak," The control panel in front of the officer bleeped suddenly, "Okay. We have two transmiss-" Another bleep caught him off guard, but before anything else could be said, the new distress signals began pouring in by the pair.

"What's going on?! What are they all saying?" The Vice-admiral barked. The communications officer was too busy handing the new transmissions off to his assistants to address the commander's order.

"First Sergeant, I gave you an order-" he began, but the radar technician spoke up suddenly,

"Sir, we have a breach in airspace, three-No six, bogey's inbound from the south-No wait, here come more..." The technician trailed off as his radar screen suddenly burst to colorful life.

"What?!" croaked the Admiral, but the communications officer spoke up again, "Sir we are receiving multiple targeting confirmations from artillery platoons two and three, do I give the order to open fire?"

Finally, the commander threw up his hands in exasperation,

"ENOUGH! I can't think with all this noise!" Silence held the command deck for a few seconds, save for the beeping computers and the manic radio equipment. Fear settled on everyone in the room as a dull roar of a noise suddenly became audible through the walls of the building, drowning out the sound of the electronic equipment, but their commander started giving orders again, quickly and calmly,

"Corporal Stevens, issue the abort orders to all scouts outside the perimeter of the city, we need everyone we've got at the front lines."

"Y-yessir!" The communications officer stuttered, pulling his headset back on.

"I want Infantry units three and four and both mech-fleets at the southern lines as well, its gonna take a lot of pepper to stop this attack," Platoon commanders began carrying out the orders as fast as the Vice-admiral could give them.

"Get the Valkyrie frigates airborne, our Wraiths are going to need help. All units in position are to open fire upon sight of the enemy," The command room began to buzz with activity as a temporary sense of order returned, but the cold look of fear never left the commanders eyes as he turned to his public advisor,

"Lieutenant, the citizens of the capitol are in much greater danger than they know, we must save as many lives as we can. Contact the local presses and start the emergency transmitter; issue the evacuation of the city."

The rocky dessert terrain was a blur. I had to hold onto the zergling's skull with everything I had as it suddenly changed directions, lunging to the right. A massive explosion ripped the ground where we just where, catching a handful of our pursuers in the shockwave. As I looked back once more, I found that the broods were closer and far more numerous than I thought before; Bane raced just ahead of a stampede. I could see the zerglings bounding at my friend's heels as the horizon gave way to a great cloud of mutalisks. The zergling leapt again as the siege tanks fired in unison, causing a wall of napalm to erupt from the ground in front of us. I closed my eyes, but Bane's momentum carried us through the flames and he hit the ground running on the other side. This gave us a few yards of precious distance from the bloodthirsty swarms as the bunkers and siege tanks took on detail ahead. The ensuing battle was all around, it looked just like the old history logs I've seen: The tidal wave of zergling's were closing the distance to the front lines despite the punishing blasts of the siege tanks and the sheets of gunfire from the bunkers; there were simply too many to kill at once. Grey worms of smoke from the failing defenses trailed overhead as the Republican air fleet raced to join the battle, launching their salvos of Gemini missiles and halo rockets at the packs of great winged beasts. We reached the bunkers and I ducked behind the zerglings armored skull as the intensity of the gunfire redoubled. Impaler rounds riddled the zergling and chipped off the pavement around us and the tanks fired once more.

Bane growled in pain from the raining bullets, but he ran against the stream of them and made one last running leap. Time crawled by as the arclite blast turned the ground behind us into a fountain of flames. To my astonishment, Bane cleared the bunkers, but the pavement on the other side of the siege tanks was so far; there was no way we could make it. The zergling's back feet barely clipped the edge of the tank's rollers, but it was just enough. Fearing an accidental stab from those scythes, I kicked away from the zergling as we toppled to the street. I hit the pavement hard next to my friend and tore the wounds on my back open again. My palms were bleeding from taking the fall as well, but, oddly, I felt no pain or fear. Standing up on wobbly legs that threatened to dump me onto the ground again, I limped over to my friend. Bane had a little more trouble getting up, but he managed to stand despite the gory, bleeding holes in his carapace where the bullets and shrapnel had broken through. A deep voice suddenly spoke up, catching us by surprise and sounding out of place against the chattering gun fire and booming artillery,

"How the hell did a kid get here?!" I looked up at the squad of marines that quickly had us surrounded by the siege tank. They pointed their gauss rifles at us, and one of them ordered me to move,

"Get outta the way, boy, so we can kill it!" I didn't move an inch. The siege tanks thundered again and the gauss rifles of the rest of the army became more and more erratic, rising to match the roar of the swarms. The marines were obviously getting restless,

"Greg, grab the kid, we gotta move!" the squad leader barked while jerking the bolt back on his gauss rifle. Obeying orders, one of the marines suddenly stepped forward, reaching out for me with one hand. Bane snarled angrily, lunging for the offending soldier. He jumped back and Bane aborted his attack, but it was enough to set off the trigger-happy marines.  
The soldiers all took aim in our general direction and Bane used the blunt edge of his scythes to shove me away. I stumbled forward and tripped, hitting the ground at the feet of some marine's power-suit as the gauss rifles blared just over my head. I crouched on the ground in fear and covered my ears from the booming gun barrels, but the next thirteen seconds would remain burned into my memory forever. After knocking me clear, my friend had time for nothing else. The barrage of impaler rounds tore into the zergling. The light carapace was no protection against the steady stream of bullets that forced Bane back against the siege tank. The zergling's body slapped against the vehicles armor helplessly as dark red blood flew in splatters with each little impact. Finally, they stopped, leaving us to join the battle as Bane slid down the tanks rollers to the ground and lay crumpled there in a mass of gore. 

"You bastard's!!" I screamed at the marines. One of them said something inaudible into his headset as they returned to the firefight and left me with my dying friend. I got up and trip-fell to where Bane was laying. There were so many holes in him that I could barely recognize the pathetic creature before me as a zergling.

"Oh no...Bane..." I began but the words fell short as I realized the mortality of the wounds.

"It doesn't hurt..." My friend struggled to move, managing to lift one arm a few inches before giving up and letting it drop again,

"That badly," he finished; his psionic voice was growing weaker now.

"You're going to die, aren't you?" I croaked. Bane painstakingly lifted his head; I could see the red fire fading from the zerglings eyes as it spoke,

"..Fear not for me, mortal, you have only to stay alive..I shall return for you..."

I wanted to say more, but the arms of a flat white power suit wrapped around my chest and the ground fell away from my feet. Then, as the pair of marines and a medic hauled me away, my dying friend, struggling with effort, reached out with the same scythe as before in a vain attempt to help me. That's when I lost it. I could feel my eyes getting hot and watery, but the world turned red as rage welled up inside me,

"Put me down you murdering bastards!" I began kicking and struggling wildly, trying to break free of the medic's grip.

"Hey! Hey-kid! We're not going to hurt you," the medic began but she stopped short as I squirmed out of her arms and dropped to the ground. I began to run, but something snagged the cloth collar of my slave's tunic and jerked me off the ground again. The marine turned me around in mid-air and opened his visor so we would be face to face and attempted to calm me down,

"Easy there, boy. Now why don't you just hold still and-" The marine suddenly stopped being nice after I sneered at him and spit in his face,

"You disgusting little fucker!" He yelled in outrage as he threw me to the ground again. The wind was knocked out of me as I hit the street on my back and curled into a ball, trying to get my breath again. The marine wiped his face with his metal-gloved fist and turned to his team mates,

"Fix the brat up and throw em' in containment for a while."

I was helpless as the woman in a white power suit came close, pointing the barrel of her weapon down at me. I closed my eyes in fear as she adjusted a few switches and pulled the trigger, but I opened them again in confusion as a soothing white light flashed over me. I'm not sure how it worked, but suddenly my back no longer ached and my bleeding palms didn't have a scratch. I began to feel drowsy, possibly a side-affect from my speedy recovery, as the second marine leaned down and mopped me off the ground by the scruff of my shirt again, but I still wasn't ready to go peaceably. I tried to fight the marines hold on me, but the drowsy feeling became overpowering as the sedative given to me by the medic started to take full affect. Suddenly, all my energy left and my body seemed to ache for sleep...

…The thundering Terran weaponry and their thudding artillery seemed far away now. I strained to see, but the fading image of the marines carrying the mortal away finally changed to a mass of swirling black hues that seemed to open up and swallow my essence. The will of the Overmind washed in again, attempting to drain me of my thoughts and replace them with simple instinct and insane urges to kill and destroy. I struggled against my creator's overwhelming grip on my essence, but it was in vain. I would be reincarnated to aid the swarms in battle against the Terrans once more, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I didn't want to become a mindless killer again, but I could already feel the senses of physical reality returning to me. The overmind's will came in waves now, and it began to overtake my mind as well when one last thought flickered through; to live again would be a new chance to keep a promise I had made to a friend...

Reality came crashing back and the blinding light of the evening sun engulfed my newly acquired vision temporarily. I could hear the snarls of my brethren as they coursed around me, racing for a firefight just ahead. Felicity overwhelmed me as my sight returned and I couldn't help ignoring the chattering Terran weaponry nearby.

Inexplicably, my body was obeying my commands and my own thoughts rang clearly over the dull murmur that the angry will of the swarms had become, but this was not the full reason for my content; I towered above the mob of zerglings and the group of marines before me. With a quick glance down I found that the two legs of my previous form had been replaced by the familiar armored plates of a single massive tail and my moral returned. I took an experimental swing of my new blades with a deep, satisfying growl and began to turn my back on the one-sided battle before my brethren finished their work-I hadn't the spare time to fight them off. But before I made the first slither, I realized something: This Terran city was huge; it would be literally impossible for me, alone, to find Reece before the zerg did. Announcing my wrath with a fearsome snarl, I lunged forth.

In the three seconds it took to reach the first enemy, I had taken in the entire battle: Four Terrans in worn power suits fought desperately against a superior number of zerglings, with only their rifles for defense. But their weapons weren't enough; my brethren charged aggressively, trampling over their fallen to reach the enemy. Then I hadn't the time to analyze anything else, for my attention was needed as my blades met the back of the first enemy. The weaker creature crumbled beneath my scythes with a crunch of its carapace, but as it fell, The marine that was filling it full of holes suddenly turned his bullets on me. I ignored the stinging metal shards that ricocheted off my dense carapace and speared another unsuspecting zergling with one scythe. The creature released an unworldly screech of pain as I easily held the zergling high with one arm, to slash one of his lunging brethren aside with my free blade, before hurling him into the fourth one.

Then the broods became aware of my presence. The seven remaining zerglings abandoned their individual fights with the marines and came for me in a frenzy. The first enemy to lunge for me this time was hammered back to the ground with a vicious swing but I stumbled forward as a pair of them landed on my back with claws ready. Using the gunning enemies to my advantage, I turned away from them and the zerglings stabbing holes in my carapace screamed as the pelting bullets tore them open and I was able to meet the last of my brethren as they encircled me and lunged in unison. One of them was devastated in a stream of gauss fire before it could make a leap. Tracking another's flight path with split second reflexes, I smashed the fiend out of the air with a brutal horizontal swing as the other two went low instead. I couldn't suppress a snarl of pain as the enemies slashed at my torso with their blades. I turned for the zergling on my left, lifting both scythes in the air bringing them down hard with an angry growl. As the enemy before me was ripped in half, the remaining zergling was brought down in yet another hail of well-aimed rifle fire and the battle ended.

Moving only to turn around and face the Terrans again, I stood with bloody scythes, panting from exertion, amongst the slain bodies of my brethren. A few empty shells from the marine's weapons still bounced on the pavement, making the only noise save for the death throes of dying zergling. I didn't flinch as the five marines trained their rifles on me. I could sense their fear as they held their weapons with trembling hands, but there was a chance they wouldn't shoot me; their thoughts said as much. Once a few tense moments passed and I no longer had to fight my own adrenaline, I was able to get a better look at the Terrans. It was quickly obvious that they weren't Marines at all. None of their powered suits were new, matched one another or even resembled similar designs. Upon closer inspection, their weapons told the same story. Finally, one of them spoke up in their verbal language,

"Have you eva seen somethin' like this b'for, Boss?" one of them raised the face plate on their helmet and asked, never taking its eyes from me or lowering the weapon. Another one replied; Apparently this Terran was the one they called "Boss",

"You're guess is as good as mine, Mosely," he answered calmly, but firmly, "Today is my first time seeing a living Zerg species, too."

"I don't trust it; I say we kill it. You saw what it did to it's friends just a minute ago; we could be next if we turn our backs," another said. I was ready to speak for myself at this point, but the one that "Boss" had called Mosely said something first,

"Wadaya mean? It jus' saved us from bein' killed by tos tings! Wut if it's a good Zerg?"

The shortest of the Terrans decided to add his opinion, now that everyone was speaking out of line,

"Mo' makes a good point, Cap'n. If this thing wanted us dead, I believe it would have had its way by now-a whole clip from my gun didn't even make a dent."

Despite the obvious distress and confusion my presence was causing them, Boss was beginning to grow anxious about something,

"Either way, we still have a mission to accomplish here. I don't know about this one, but the rest of the Zerg don't look like they harbor such good intentions. Let's get the job done and get outta here before more of the bad ones show up."

It was only when they lowered their weapons and began backing away slowly, that I realized; Not only could they know where the Marines took Reece, but they had a ship as well. I had to speak now.

"Wait," I radiated my psionic voice, so each of their minds could pick it up clearly.

"Wow! Da' ting said sumthin'!" Mosely exclaimed before I could continue, but Boss wasn't so enthusiastic,

"How is it that you speak, beast?! The Zerg can't talk; this is some kind of trick!" he said sharply, taking aim for me again. As if by silent command, the other three soldiers raised their weapons as well. Their puny weapons were the least of my concerns, but I proceeded to cooperate anyway,

"I am capable of telepathic communication, as are all Cerebrates and the Overmind itself. I also assure you that I will bring you no harm, so long as you cease this heedless hostility," I explained, gesturing to their poised gun barrels with one scythe. It startled them all over again to hear an entire sentence from me, but Boss was vigilant,

"I'm not buying this; why should we trust anything you tell us?"

"Because you still live!" I snarled, standing to my full height, "And if you don't get your puny weapons out of my face and hear what I have to say, I shall slaughter you all where you stand!"  
That seemed to get their attention faster than cooperation. The lead Terran lowered his weapon some, but he still held it ready to fire with one hand while pressing a button on the arm of his suite. The visor on his helmet slid up with a hiss; consequently, his soldiers did the same.

"You make a good point, hydralisk. I suppose we have the time for a quick chat."  
The Terran that suggested that I be shot earlier spoke up again,

"You're actually going to listen to this monster?! Why can't we just shoot it before it kills us all?"

"I'm in charge, Joe, and you question my authority at your own risk; Shut up and let the thing speak!" Boss snapped back.

"You mentioned before that you have a 'job' to get done. I am willing to assist you and your soldiers in completing this task." I sent through their minds once they were quiet.  
"The next Zerg assault will arrive soon and crush what ever is left of the meager defenses here and move on to the city. From what I've already seen, you Terrans are going to need all the help you can get if there's any hope of completing your task." 

"So you're ten feet tall and bullet-proof; why do you want to help us?" Boss asked in the same stern voice.

"You also said that you are capable of leaving the planet. In exchange for passage off of this planet, I will ensure that you leave it with your lives." I could sense the distrust radiating from some of them, but Boss seemed to be slightly intrigued,  
"I'm not entirely sure how useful you can be, but 'tell you what; I'll give you a chance to prove yourself. Currently, we're on a rescue mission of a sort. We were on our way to the Magistrates headquarters to pick up a friend of ours when we ran into you and your little buddies. If the place hasn't been whipped out by the Zerg yet, their will probably be infantry still guarding it. Either way we'll be facing resistance getting in and back out again; we'll see what you're good for and then I'll make my decision."

I didn't like the sound of this mortal's voice, but there was no other alternative. I had to trust it.

Darkness. It was the dead of night and the dark billowing clouds blotting out the stars' light, dumped their sheets of rain on the shadowy dessert below. Great fingers of lightning crashed across the raging sky, illuminating the twisted structures of an alien race briefly, but their was no crackle of thunder. The shifting images that ran across my vision produced no sound at all. The view panned to the left silently, bringing a glowing blue vessel into view. It ventured through the storm alone, seemingly unaware of the storm it flew through or the massive number of enemies lying just ahead. The air grew tense and the darkness seemed to encroach the brave little ship. The rain began to pour harder and the lightning intensified, when suddenly, the tiny ship emitted a light of its own. With a bright flash, a shifting psionic light took the shape of a small army below it. Some of the warriors that appeared; I could recognize, and some I saw for the first time in my life. As I tried to get a better look at the group, the picture began growing fuzzy and dark. I could tell that I was slipping back into consciousness; I could already feel the cold surface of a cement floor pressing against my body and smell the dank air. Struggling to see more of this strange new dream, I managed a glimpse of the large, bulky machines I knew as the old model siege tanks. They transformed without notice as the marines around them made ready. Then ground began trembling violently just before the picture finally gave way to complete blackness…

I awoke with a start on the floor of my cell in a cold sweat. At first, I had nearly forgotten all that had happened and the thought of being in a prison and not knowing why began to frighten me, but my mind cleared with my vision as the last lingering affects of the sedative wore off. Given the same choices and situation again, I probably would have tried to go back to sleep; because once my brain started functioning again, it was instantly flooded with unanswered questions. I had no idea where I was, exactly, nor did I know if I would ever leave. What had become of Bane and what did he mean by "I shall return for you?" Was he dead? I was far from sure about anything at that moment, I couldn't even determine the odd dream I just had as an actual event or a product of my own imagination, fueled by the sedative. Then, as I shook my head in attempt to clear it again, I heard a low voice,

"Hey, kid, Are you okay?" I was growing tired of being called a kid, but I didn't have the energy to argue, yet. I couldn't see who I was talking to, the person was in the cell next to mine, but I answered anyway,  
"Yeah, I suppose," I said back to the voice as I stood up on numb legs and stumbled to the bars of my cell.  
The voice continued,

"You're kinda young to be here, kid, even with the problems the zerg are bringing. Whatcha' in for?"

I hesitated, not entirely sure of the answer, myself,  
"I dunno," I finally croaked, "I guess for running from them."  
The voice sounded confused, 

"Running? That's it? There's got to be something else." 

"Well," I added with a smirk, "I spit in one of the marine's faces."  
The voice laughed suddenly,

"Yeah, I guess that would get their attention. But why were you running from them in the first place?"

"Because they killed my friend," I gulped. Silence held the small cell block for a few seconds and faint gunfire could be heard through the stone walls.

"Ouch," the voice said quietly, "Sorry I asked. I know how it feels to lose a comrade to the Republic. I've lost two myself; one of them only yesterday."

I felt better now that I knew I wasn't alone,  
"Really? What happened?"  
The voice was the one that hesitated this time,

"I-I'm really not supposed to tell anyone outside of the business, but you seem like a good kid…" After a sigh, the voice continued, but it had a different tone to it. An angry one,  
"We were on a recovery mission, a pretty important one, too. Some of our sources told us that a certain rebel faction was planning to strike a Republican ground convoy on it's way to the base a few miles outside the city. On that convoy was some choice new weapons material, and the Rebels wanted it. That's where we came in. After the Rebels finished off the convoy's escort, we moved in and relieved them of their prize. But the old boys put up a stronger fight than we anticipated and the Republic reinforcements arrived before we could finish them off. When they arrived they simply blasted everyone they could and decided to ask questions after the smoke cleared. My co-pilot was shot six times in the crossfire and the remaining rebels fought to the end. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't just kill me too," the voice finished with a sigh, "I suppose there has to be somebody left alive to blame."

"Wow," I said slowly, trying to take it all in.  
"My story isn't that complicated. We were just trying to get away from the zerg earlier today, and they shot him dozens of times." The voice sounded confused now,

"Why so many?" It asked.

"Because he wasn't dead yet." I answered quietly, almost a whisper. I soon became grateful for the thick stone wall separating me and the person I was talking to, because I could already feel my eyes getting hot again. When I didn't say anything for a while, the voice spoke up once more,

"Try not to let it bother you, kid. You're only young yet, and you'll lose a lot more friends than that in a lifetime-"

"You can keep your pity!" I interrupted coldly. The words snapped out of me before I could really think about it, and I regretted saying them immediately. 

"Take it easy, kid, I was just trying to help…" The voice said back in defense, but it trailed off and changed to a question as a metallic crash came from outside our cell windows, 

"Hey, did you hear that?"

Reaching the Terran's destination took much less time than I anticipated, leaving me very little time to search for Reece. But as we crossed the last deserted street and entered an alley, I could sense we were growing nearer and I sped up.  
"Hey, why so fast? You know this place?" The Terran I believed to be TJ said, it was difficult to tell them apart with their visors closed again, as he jogged to keep up with me.

"The mortal is here, I sense it." I told him without losing my stride. We passed a wide metal door and Boss ordered us to stop,

"This is it, boys and hydralisks, we get one shot at this," he began, "Joe, TJ, get the door." After a quick, "Yessir!" the two stepped forward and began wiring something to the hinges.

"What are they doing?" I asked Boss as they worked.

"The door's locked, we get it open somehow, and explosives are pretty cheap," he answered calmly. 

"Terrans…" I growled in disgust.  
"Aw, damn it! The detonator's dead!" One of them swore suddenly, holding up a small plastic contraption for the others to see. Mosely stayed were he was, but Boss stepped forward and joined the other two as they began arguing over the useless machine. While waiting for them to finish their squabbling, I happened to notice that Mosely was staring up at me with a bored look on his face,  
"Can you open da door so's we can finish dis' and go home?"  
"Mosely," I said to the Terran telepathically while moving forward to do just that, "I like the way you think."  
The other three Terrans scattered as I drew near the door and drew back my arms for the swing. The monomolecular edge of my blades punched through the steel door effortlessly, and, with a quick twist of a scythe, the heavy door tore free of its metal hinges and I was able to heave it aside, allowing the Terrans entry. 

"Good job, Biggie," Boss exclaimed as he waved his soldiers through the opening.

"Biggie?" I asked in confusion as they stepped inside one by one, with weapons ready.

"Yeah, Biggie; your name." Boss repeated as he followed his men inside. I still didn't get it, but I could only shrug and follow them into the dark building.

Once inside, my eyes adjusted to the dim lights instantly. Boss and Joe were whispering,  
"That was kind of a noisy entrance, do you think they heard us?" Joe asked quietly.

"I hope not, peek around the corner and get a better look of the inside." Boss ordered.

Gripping his weapon like a childhood toy, Joe leaned around the edge of the wall, taking a look at the room beyond. As soon as he did so, Joe immediately jerked his head back around as some well aimed impaler rounds took chunks out of the wall right next to him. Then, without warning, the Terran militia inside began firing a constant volley of bullets at our doorway, trying to pin us down.

"I think they're onto us," Joe yelled over the noise.

"They're going to try and trap us here," Boss shouted over the thundering weaponry,  
"Biggie," he yelled to me, "Go take care of them."  
I didn't like taking orders from an inferior creature, but I did as I was told. The other three Terrans stepped aside to let me by and the fight began.

"Ahhh!" I snarled heartily as I moved into the stream of flying metal shards, causing them to ricochet off my carapace in all directions, "It's good to be me again!"  
I felt very little pain as I moved forward, revealing a wide room with many rows of large desks covered with stacks of paper. Amongst them, the Terrans stood and fired their weapons at me for all they were worth.  
"Flee if you value your life!" I growled at them, but they paid my warning no heed. Opening my chest cavity and taking careful aim, despite the pelting bullets, I unleashed projectiles of my own on a pair of them. They both were toppled by the force of the impact, but as I found my next target the marines used their stim-packs to redouble their efforts. Consequently, the extreme volley of bullets forced me to close my chest cavity again. Now, with only work for my blades left before me, I surged ahead to close the distance between my enemies and begin melee combat. But as the sensation of crushing a Terran in a powered suit felled my new blades for the first time, I couldn't help feeling a hint of shame for attacking creatures so much weaker than myself.

"Look at it go, Boss!" TJ exclaimed as one soldier guarded the alley and the remaining three watched the fight from the safety of the hall. The hydralisk was apparently unstoppable; after gunning down two Republic guards it moved on to slashing them down, one by one, with its deadly scythes, but not before hurling a heavy wooden desk into a bunched up group firing their guns from across the room.

"Show's over kids, we've got company," Joe announced. The trained team then spun to meet the surprise attack with their rifles ready. Thanks to quick response, the marines that attempted to surround the invaders were met with concentrated automatic fire as they stepped into the doorway, instead of some free shots at the enemy.  
"Good work," Boss barked, "Now let's go see how our new gun is doing."

"Wow, man, we should have met you a long time ago!" One of the Terrans said as the four emerged from the hallway behind me. I ignored the comment as they sifted around me, surveying the damage I had caused from behind the sights of their rifles.

"Does it hurt?" Mosely asked me as they walked by, pointing out the spots on my carapace were the bullets must have began taking pieces with them when they bounced away. Thin lines of blood seeped from them and ran down my side, but they were already beginning to dry and solidify.

"Very little," I answered finally.

"Definitely not as much as one of us would after going through that," TJ added, prodding one of the dead marines with a suspicious gun barrel.

"Right," Boss agreed, "But if we stand around talking about it all day, we'll probably see a unwelcome encore. Let's keep moving."

The remainder of the Terran facility was unusually empty, and eerie vibes that I could not identify began breaking my train of thought, making it more difficult to sense the mortals location as I followed the group of Terrans through the complicated maze of short hallways. I ignored my instincts, in spite of my better knowledge, and decided that what ever it was would have to wait until I completed what was most important. It was only minutes later into our trek before Boss began giving orders again,

"TJ, Mosely, check the stockade for anything new, we could use some better guns."

With a nod, the two split off from our group and disappeared down another corridor. I continued to follow Boss and Joe as they turned one last corner and came to a stop in front of a short hallway with multiple steel doors.

"Alright, big guy, these are the holding cells. I have no idea which block our target is in and the Republic could send reinforcements at any moment," Boss said, having to look up to see my face, "We need access to all of them."

"Say no more," I responded with a growl, trying to sense which door held my friend as I approached, ripping them each of their hinges, one by one. Joe and Boss entered the first door made available to them while I opened the rest, but I decided to search the last one first; where the mortal's mental signature was strongest.

"Okay…Did you hear that?!" I asked the voice hastily as the muffled noises died. It sounded worried as well when it responded,  
"Yeah, It sounded kinda close, too." Minutes that seemed like hours passed as we strained to listen, searching for some noise or sign of life, but finding only silence. Then, ever so slowly, a new sound became audible: footsteps. They grew louder and louder until they stopped just outside our door. After a another moment of silence that seemed an eternity, a great, metallic wrenching erupted. It sounded like someone was ripping a Buick in half, and the sound got closer still. Then, after three successions of this noise, we watched as two curved scythes punched through the reinforced steel of our cell block door as if it where made of cardboard. Now that we were thoroughly terrified, the owner of the blades mangled the door into an impossibly twisted shape before tearing it away completely with a snarl of effort. The mystery person in the next cell and I could only watch helplessly as a monster squeezed through the doorway. I could not remember the specific term for this species of zerg, but it was easily three times larger that of the zerglings I've seen so far. It had to move with a constant slouch to keep from knocking the hanging lights out of the ceiling as it immediately began crossing the room to our cells and the long blades protruding from its arms practically dragged the floor. I backed away involuntarily as it approached my cell door. The hulking beast towered above me, looking even more intimidating up close. I crouched in the back corner of my cell, peering back out at the thing in shock, until it managed to lock eyes with me. Suddenly, I was unable to look away, and I began to panic, but soon a calm settled over me like a cloud as the creature stared me down with its fiery, crimson eyes. Then the breath caught in my throat as the thought flashed though my mind; only one creature could have eyes that burn so fiercely,

"…Bane?" I finally stammered at the creature before me. The thing sighed, blowing my hair back with a huge whuff of air and my heart leapt as the same familiar psionic voice saturated my thoughts,

"Indeed, mortal. I have returned for you," the words said, only they were somewhat deeper than what I remember from the zergling.

"Bane!!" I said again, but in exclamation as I lunged against the bars of my cage, "Get me out of here!" Suddenly, somebody in a power suit stepped through the ruined doorway into our cell block and complimented Bane,

"Great work! You cleaned out the Republican magistrate faster than a doughnut sale!"

More soldiers began following; I counted four in total, all in different power suits. Then, without warning, the person in the cell next to me began talking to the soldiers that came in,

"Well, well, Collin's boy's. I was hoping for a few of my own, but I suppose being rescued by a rival faction isn't as bad as waiting here for the zerg. Speaking of which, who's your new friend here?"

"Just a temporary business associate," The lead Terran replied before noticing me for the first time,  
"Who's the kid?"

"This is my friend, Reece," Bane told them, "And the mortal shall leave with us." The same one that spoke before didn't like the idea,  
"You said something about bringing a friend along, but a kid?"  
"You don't have to worry about him," the stranger from the cell next to me added, "The boy's here for spitting on a Republican Marine."

Murmurs of approval and nods were exchanged among the soldiers before the leader spoke up again, 

"Well, if that's the case, we'd better get a move-on. Biggie, would you mind opening the cell doors for us as well?"

To my surprise, Bane looked down to the person talking and nodded obediently, approaching my cage first and dispatching the hinges with two quick flicks of a blade.

"Why are you helping these guys?" I whispered to Bane as he opened my cell and moved on to my neighbors.

"Because," came the psionic voice while he worked, "They're our ride off this planet."

My friend finished unlocking the doors and the marines moved up to help shuffle them aside; the hydralisk had no way of gripping the metal bars and moving them himself. Silence took the noisy soldiers, as their leader hit a few buttons on the arm of his power suit and the static of a radio could be heard faintly.

"Okay, Clare, we've got the package. How's the scope look for the delivery?"  
The lead Terran spoke into his headset calmly, making the only sound in the cell block. After a few minutes of listening to him have a conversation with someone that sounded like nothing but breaks in the static, the commander finally closed the com-link and announced the plan,

"Scanners are picking up lots of zerg on their way from the south and the northwest, ETA is about twelve minutes, but Clare is already in position at the LZ on the east side of the city. If we double-time it, we may just reach it before the brunt of the enemy force arrives."

The city was ghostly calm. With no commuters, air traffic or even electricity in some parts, the dark, looming buildings that rose up around us seemed frightening and unwelcome in the waning evening sun. But to our surprise, and good fortune, we didn't run into a single enemy, although a few of the soldiers didn't trust the silence, and neither did Bane. 

"Something's not right," He finally growled as we made our way down the deserted street.

"I know what you mean," The Terran commander agreed, "We should have run into a few of your look-alike's by now."  
One of the soldiers spoke up while we walked, further supporting Bane's statement,  
"He's right, Boss, this was too easy."  
I began to feel the same way as time passed and the buildings grew shorter and wider. Soon we turned one last corner and the picture of endless streets stretching on and on between the man-made structures gave way to the sand of the dessert, but still we came across no sign of life at all, that is, until we came into view of the dropship.

"We're too late," Bane said after we crested the final dune and finished the short downhill trek to the sleek little ship parked in the sand below, "They're already here."

"Relax," the commander assured my friend, punching a button on the rear of the ship, causing it to open automatically, "There's nothing around for miles," he finished before disappearing inside the dropship.

"No," Bane contradicted, "They've already been here, they're all around us."

"Shut up, Hydralisk! You're making me nervous!" The shortest soldier with the funny accent complained.

Suddenly, the commander came stomping back out of the craft,  
"Damn! He's right!" he swore, "The pilots been killed!"

The words seemed to hit the soldiers like a bullet, they must have known this pilot well.

"Clare…" one of the soldiers said in despair, trailing off before finishing. Then they all seemed to snap back to life when a vicious snarl erupted from somewhere behind me.

When everyone suddenly stopped moving and breathing, I put two and two together and figured out that it wasn't Bane who made that noise. Slowly, I turned around and was taken aback by the sight of four hydralisks standing atop the dune we had just come over, staring down at us. Without warning, one of them roared horribly, slinging its mucus with the wind of its breath and making everyone but Bane jump in surprise. As if by cue, zerglings began moving into view, coming to a stop beside the hydralisks. The fourteen zerglings shifted and growled at the flanks of their escort, blood-thirsty for the kill, but none of them made a move towards us, yet.

"Get on the ship," Bane said suddenly.

"We'll never make it, biggie," The commander responded grimly, "Those critters will be on top of us before everyone gets inside."

"No, they are here for me," my friend spoke so calmly that it scared me, "Get on the ship, take the mortal with you."

"We're not leaving you here!" I tried to interrupt.

"You don't have the time to argue this out, Reece, just get on the ship!" Bane snapped back at me. From the first time he spoke, Bane has never shown any aggression towards me, and I was taken aback by it now. I felt almost numb, but he was right; It was either him, or all of us. My friend was quick to speak again,

"I'm going to lead them away; go for the ship when you see me move."

Everyone seemed to understand, or at least no one had any objections, except me; I had about a dozen of them, but, to my friend's request, I remained silent. I knew I shouldn't have-there had to be something I could do or say to stop what I knew was about to happen, for the second time, but I was helpless; crushed between the desire to live and my own compassion for my friend. I almost felt fortunate when the decision was made for me.

Everything happened so fast; with a fierce snarl, Bane lunged away from us and the hydralisks and zerglings atop the dune roared simultaneously in response, leaping down the hill after him. The zerglings flew by us, just feet away as the soldiers did as they were told. They ran past me into the ship as I stood paralyzed in the sand, watching the unbeatable number of enemies pursue my brave friend. I was ready to make the decision to stay here, currently unable to move as I was, but another set of suited arms threw themselves around my chest and the unbreakable hold the sand seemed to have on my boots let go as the world was hidden away behind the walls of a dropship. I got one last glance of my only real friend leading the zerg away so we could escape unharmed before he was blotted out by his pursuers. Then the thrusters on the ship suddenly sang to life, kicking up sand in a whirlwind around us, and we began gaining some altitude. But before the rear cargo door slid home, Bane topped a dune and came into sight again,

"BANE!!" The word finally burst out of me like an explosion, and I could feel my eyes getting hot again, but I did nothing to hide my emotions in front of the soldiers; I didn't care. My friend must have heard me: Spending the lead he had on his enemies, Bane stopped, looking up at our climbing ship and, as if to tell me everything was alright, he raised one blade high with a mighty roar, audible even over the whining engines of the ship. Then the door was finally shut and the view taken from me. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I let my body fall against the wall and slide down to the floor. I could feel their pity and remorse for me, but I ignored them all, I didn't care. All I really cared about was about to be torn to pieces so we could live and I could do nothing to stop it.

To Be Continued…


	13. Bane 13: The Anomaly

"I'm going to lead them away, go for the ship when you see me move," I informed the Terrans of my plan as I focused on the terrible voices that had become nothing but a muffled noise in the back of my mind since I met the mortal only yesterday. The flow of time was psionically brought to a halt as a red hue edged my vision and the will of the swarms suddenly came alive in my mind. Violently trying to rip control of my body from me, it roared in, furious with my treason against it, but now I had the strength to fight,

"Arrogant tyrant!" My own thought severed the Overmind's blinding mental hold like a blade, and the voices fell in volume, but it's angry words roared against me like a storm,

"Cursed, defiant abomination!! Though I know not how you manipulate the cerebrates covenant, you shall suffer the pain of eternal death for your vile betrayal!"

"And that," my thoughts rang through again, tearing ugly holes in the voices, "Shall be your downfall. For your own hatred will drive you and your children into the ground!"

The Over mind went into a rage, furious with my defiance, but I did not block it out of my mind completely just yet. When the red hue faded and the flow of time returned, I brandished it as a weapon, amplifying it to the enemies before me.

Now I was out of time.

I lunged away from the mortals and my brethren dove down the sandy dune, the hate filling their eyes as they simultaneously targeted me. I hadn't even a moment to spare to look back, but the whine of the Terran's machine assured me that they would make it to safety. The hydralisks could only keep pace with me, but the zerglings were gaining in leaps before I could clear the first dune. If I stopped, I knew I would be surrounded, but when the mortal's voice suddenly rang through the fading drone of the small craft's engines and the snarling creatures on my tail, my own safety was forgotten. Turning where I was, I got a last glimpse of the ship before it rocketed into the sky. Thrusting one scythe in the air, I replied to the extent of my verbal ability; for psionic communication at this distance took time that I didn't have. But as the first zerglings crested my sandy hill, I realized why Reece was so distressed for my safety. Dieing in this battle was a possibility, of course, but there would be no help for me once I was reincarnated again; it would be far too dangerous for them to return. With the mortal gone, the Overmind would ensue his wicked punishment against me. And all because the mindless pawns before me stood in the way at the last moment.

"So be it," I sent the psionic message forth to my enemies as they got close enough to lock eyes with me,

"But if I am damned by you vile creatures, I'll give you hell before I go!" I snarled in rage as my left scythe obliterated the skull of the first zergling that leapt at me. Its broken form was hurled to the sand but his brethren paid the fallen no heed. Three more of the little bastards came for me simultaneously, but as I made my first swing for the nearest one, they suddenly darted away from me. It was a trick; only a distraction that caused me to turn my attention away from the remaining ten zergling that cleared the dune with a final bound. Now there was time for nothing. Though I managed to maim another zergling in the attack, more enemies than I can count hit me hard in mid-leap, and their combined momentum sent me stumbling backwards. Suddenly, the ground below me fell away and my vision became a spinning mass of sky and sand as a number of the zerglings tumbled down the dune with me. As soon as I could feel myself losing momentum, I thrust my blades into the sand, consequently throwing me back on my tail again, but, in seconds, the zerglings had me encircled once more, lunging and stabbing with their miniature scythes. I crushed one of them with my own blades, but I couldn't suppress a snarl of pain as the blows rained against my carapace. Spinning to face the enemies on my left, I made a long horizontal swing. The scythe's curved path brought it across three zerglings, severing limbs and tearing the last one's throat from its brown shell. six down, but that still left eight, and the ones at my unprotected side attacked immediately. I stumbled once more as the weight of four enemies nearly brought me to the ground again, but the pain from their blades breaking through my carapace kept my rage freshly kindled. Although impossible to distinguish exactly where the zerglings were on my back, I could tell their positions by the scythes twisting in my flesh, and I was able to make an accurate stab attempt over one shoulder. The enemies leapt off, but I was rewarded with a high pitched squeal and brought my arm forward, revealing my prize: One zergling had taken the blade through the chest, the tip of the scythe just barely breaking through its back. I snarled involuntarily again as another set of blades imbedded themselves in my side. Shifting to face the persistent threat, I held my impaled enemy high and brought its ruined form down on top of it's brethren, finishing off the injured one and crippling the other.

Just when it appeared that I might survive this battle, a pair of long scythes slashed across my side, hurling me to the sand. I had forgotten about the hydralisks. I attempted to rise, but the zerglings were there yet again. They collided with me, and I finally hit the ground for the last time. All I could see was a blur of carapace and claws as my brethren pinned me down, furiously punching thick holes in my carapace with their deadly blades. There was no escape now; the sound of the zerglings vicious snarling consumed my sense of hearing and the Overmind's psychotic laughter rang hysterically in my mind. And here, beneath the merciless blades of my brethren, my life, and my freedom, would have ended; had not an old friend intervened.

"Show these vile creatures the strength of the Khala!" Blood sprayed in a mist that nearly blotted out the sun as the zerglings surrounding me literally began exploding in half. The sky was suddenly visible to me once more, and the weight of the zerglings was gone. Snarling with the effort, I was finally able to stand, but the hyralisks still remained untouched just a few yards away. As my brethren opened their chest cavities for firing, I braced myself for the barrage of the deadly projectiles and discovered that my left arm would no longer obey me. Taking the time for a glance down, I found the carapace smashed halfway through just below the shoulder, leaving the rest of the limb hanging lifelessly, twisted at an odd angle. Blood poured from the gaping wound and ran down my useless left scythe in streams. With only one blade for protection, I instantly realized that their would be no winning this battle alone, but the familiar psionic voice from before came again,

"Fear not, old Hero. Death won't find you this day, so long as we still have a hand in the matter."

The hydralisks began firing their poisoned spines, but the projectiles never found their targets. Blue plasma shields rippled out of the thin air before me, absorbing the hail as my unseen allies raced to meet the hydralisks. I strained my eyes; the sight of a cerebrate cannot be fooled by such illusions, and images began appearing before me. Four templar in long, dark robes, wielding a single curved blade of energy apiece, met the hydralisks with their weapons in mid-swing. The modified psionic blades slashed through the hardened carapace of the hydralisks as easily as my blades cut the Terran metals. The devastating blows took my brethren by complete surprise, but the Templar weren't finished yet. Continuing the assault, they ripped into the confused enemies with wide, graceful arcs of their blades. Unable to stop the swift and crippling damage that the invisible attackers dealt, the hydralisks dropped to the sand as their bodies quickly reached the breaking point. Suddenly, the dunes were deadly silent, save for the crackle of smoldering carapace. The templar turned, their psionic blades each returning to the hand from wench they were held.

"Rakeem, old friend," the name finally surfaced from the corners of my memory. The templar that had been speaking to me stepped forward from the ranks of his brethren,

"Bane, at last you live again; My comrades and I have waited many decades for your return."

"How is it that you found me?" I couldn't resist asking.

"There will be time for talk later, my friend. We must get you to safety before your psionic emanations draw every zerg on the planet."

Without answering my question, Rakeem fell silent as he sent a powerful psionic message. Naturally, I picked it up easily,

"San'Sor, we have the Hero, Recall immediately."

"Who is San'Sor?" I tried asking a different question, and Rakeem was quick to reply this time,

"San'Sor is the name of my Arbiter." He simply answered.

Silence took us as we awaited the recall spell, but when the psionic shift in reality around us announced its arrival, I was compelled to say one last thing,

"Thank you, old friend."

"Try to look at the bright side, kid, at least you lived."

I ignored the soldiers attempt to cheer me up, trying my best to stare a hole through one spot on the wall of the ship. I felt numb, like someone had pulled the plug on my nervous system, but rage began to replace the empty spaces as the soldiers around me kept pushing my buttons,

"No use TJ," one of them leaned forward and waved a hand in front of my face, "He's stunned."

The rage began to boil a little hotter, but the guy everyone called Boss spoke up,

"Leave the kid alone and pay attention, we dock in two minutes!"

I still didn't look at anyone directly, but I finally adjusted my glare from the wall to the port window at my side. The blackness of space didn't seem to be moving at all, even though we were probably doing close to 4,500 miles an hour. I paid Boss no attention as he began spouting orders,

"Okay, listen up! As soon as we dock, I've gotta have the cells recharged in this thing post haste. Make quick work of it, I don't want to keep a rival faction waiting." Indeed, I could already feel the ship losing speed. I leaned forward some and was able to see around the airlock into the cockpit. A bulky, oblong vessel filled the wind shield. I didn't bother to get a better look, all deep-space Terran ships look alike. Boss lowered his voice as he spoke to one member of the crew,

"Joe, I can't say how sorry I feel for you…Clare was a good woman. When we get back, take as much time off as you need."

Suddenly, the ship jolted to a halt with clang and the airlock sealed with a hiss. The soldiers stood up and the rear cargo door slid open, revealing a tiny grey room beyond.

"TJ, take the kid aboard and keep an eye on em' until we get back." Boss finished.

"You got it," the soldier I supposed to be TJ replied before looking down at me,

"C'mon little man, time to go."

Reluctantly, I got to my feet; I could still sense everyone's eyes on me as I followed the soldier into the small airlock room.

"Good luck, Cap'n!" The soldier said as the door to the rear of the ship closed again. A secondary door slid into place, blocking the back of the ship out of view.

"Welcome aboard the Mark II, kiddo." TJ said with minimal enthusiasm as he pressed a button on the wall and the door opened, revealing the dull grey sights of your usual Terran facility. I noticed extra power suits hanging from the wall on one side with a simplistic metal bench mounted on the floor before them. The wall opposite to this one was covered with rows of mesh-steel lockers of varying sizes; probably weapons and equipment storage. I watched as TJ approached them and put his rifle away in one of the lockers. After that, he turned and started heading for the opposite wall. Upon undoing the metal clamps on the waist of his power suit, the solder was able to remove the overgrown metal shell like a giant T-shirt.

"So what are you guys going to do with me?" I asked the goofy looking half-Terran, half-machine before me.

This TJ didn't offer much of an answer as he climbed the rest of the way out of the power suit,

"Your guess is as good as mine…errr…uh, what's your name again?"

"Reece," I replied. With somewhat of an effort, the soldier hauled the two halves of the power suit onto their hangers on the wall and pulled a pair of plain boots from a short cubby hole behind the bench. He tied the laces without a word and stood up quickly, heading for the door.

"Wait! Where are you going now?" I called after him.

"Well, Ima' go find something to eat, then I'll probably go to sleep." He replied without turning around.

"That's it?" I asked in disbelief, "You're just gonna take a break and let me wander the ship?"

"Yeah, that's the idea," he answered once more, in a bit of a bored tone, as he pressed the button to open the door and walked through. I was about to say something else when he cut me off with a quick, "Have fun, kid," before letting the door shut behind him.

The sudden lack of oxygen at the end of the Recall spell was painfully stunning. The first image to cross my vision was that of the air exploding forth from me in a dissipating mist as the vacuum of space ripped all traces of oxygen from my lungs. Slowly, my body responded and the crippling pain in my chest subsided as the adaptations present in every Zerg species took affect, and I was able to take a look around. Not that there was much to see; nothing but dull grey sand and boulders strewn in no particular order for miles around. The only thing that broke the monotony of the lifeless landscape was our presence and a small, oddly shaped craft, I supposed it to be Rakeem's Arbiter, floating above a massive crater to our left. The red planet of Korhal loomed above it all, hanging over us in the black vastness of space.

"Why have we come to this place?" I was now thankful that my ability to speak wasn't in verbal form as Rakeem answered my question.

"It is here, on this small moon, that we have watched and waited for you."

"But how?" I asked, "There's nothing here."

My friends eyes glowed somewhat brighter than usual while he answered this question as well,

"Look closer, cerebrate."

I glanced again at the view of the large crater with its Arbiter floating above, and something new did appear.

Slowly dissolving from its cloak, a huge yellow craft was now visible to me, hovering silently in the craters protection. It was easily ten times larger than the San'Sor.

"Your ship?" I inquired with a slight sense of awe.

"Indeed. This is the Kalimar, a modified version of the standard Protoss Carrier." Rakeem answered with pride.

"This colossal machine looks like its been out here for ages," I thought to myself. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who heard it,

"Think what you will of it," One of the unnamed Templar suddenly blurted into my mind, "But this vessel has served us well for two long centuries, and shall serve us yet again."

"How did you do that?!" I would have snarled, were I capable of it at the time.

Rakeem's psionic laughter rang in my head as he explained,

"It appears that you haven't gained much during your dormancy. Come, Bane, you have much to learn. Your training shall begin as soon as you are well again."

The Templar stepped around me and began ambling down into the crater, heading for the massive ship. I remained still.

"Training?!" I questioned irritably, "I am the fiercest of the zerg strains; the primary killing machine of the hive, bred and evolved solely for the purpose of deadly frontal combat," I finished with as much pride as I could muster, despite the fact that I was temporarily maimed and still bleeding from multiple scythe wounds. Rakeem and his brethren stopped, turning to face me once more. By the looks on their faces, they weren't impressed,

"On the contrary, great killing machine," my friend contradicted me, "It was only minutes ago we found you nearly slain by a mere handful of your own brethren. You have much greater potential than this. Follow my guidance, and we shall reveal the extent of your power."

As much as it hurt my pride to do so, I coincided defeat, for the first time in my existence, and began following Rakeem and the other Protoss to their ship. I was alone with my thoughts for the short duration of the trek, although I knew not if my allies were eaves-dropping on them again. My own power mattered not to me, but if adding to my strength would aid me in protecting the only friends I had left from the inevitability of the swarms, then so be it.

It was an instant relief once the automatic door slide home and the room was filled with oxygen.

"I prefer breathing," I growled, having already missed the sensation, "Next time you decide to drag me through a warp rift for a visit in the vacuum of space, do take the time to warn me."

Rakeem ignored my question and continued further into the ship with his brethren in tow, yet, I stopped to glance at the room around me. Nothing seemed out of place in comparison to any other Protoss vessel I've seen. Somewhat resembling the Terran facilities, only lacking the grid work of bolts and welds that held them together, the entire ship seemed to be comprised of the same dull, yellow metal. The walls, floor, and ceiling was all one smooth tunnel, broken only by another intersecting hallway. It appeared as if the whole thing were intricately carved out of one great hunk of metal. Suddenly, my friend's voice broke through my thoughts again,

"Follow closely; Finding a lost hydralisk in these twisted paths will take time that we cannot spare."

Suppressing another snarl, I lunged to catch up with the swift Templar warriors. As I followed Rakeem and his brethren, a memory surfaced from the dark recesses of my mind.

"Rakeem?" I asked.

"Another question, Bane?" He predicted.

"Last I recall, you could not live outside the mechanical bounds of your dragoon. How is it that you live and walk under your own power?" The Templar was quick to reply this time,

"I had some Terran allies once, and their scientists are very good at cheating death."

That immediately reminded me of my own allies, but when I suddenly came to a halt in the short hallway, the four Templar did so as well.

"Why have you stopped, cerebrate?" One of them asked.

"I must go back." Rakeem's eye's glowed a shade brighter than usual as he read my open thoughts.

"Your…friend is safe for now; We must-"

"Reece," I interrupted with the added emphasis of a verbal growl, "left Korhal with four other Terrans in a tiny craft. To the best of my knowledge, they will have a larger ship somewhere very close." The Templar seemed to be taken back by my outburst, but I continued.

"You are the ones who chose to spare my life; Get this heap off the ground, now, so I don't have to expend it making you see things my way." I held my only blade at the ready, to show that this was a decision in which I would not be swayed.

The Protoss were silent, or so I thought at first, but I remembered what Rakeem had said about reading thoughts and I managed to pick up pieces of a conversation that my friend and one of the Templar were having,

"Rakeem," One of the Templar asked in confusion, "Forgive me for questioning your order, but you told us of a noble being you once knew, a Hero. However foolish to challenge three trained Templar warriors and their master, the creature before us now is only another threat to our lives. Explain this to me."

I could sense my friend was angry with his students assumptions, but he withheld emotion while giving a simple answer,

"The cerebrate would do battle with any and all forces that stand in its path, no matter the odds. Such is the extent of its courage and resolve."

"It will take more than courage to defeat the Overmind once again; are you sure that the decision to save this creature was the right one?"

"We shall see, young Templar, only time will tell."

Rakeem finally spoke directly to me, or out loud-I couldn't really tell if the other Templar could hear it or not,

"Very well, stubborn, old friend," Rakeem turned slightly, addressing the Templar standing at his side,

"Start the Reactor and charge the scanners. Notify me when you have found the Terran's ship."

If I thought the two would question his orders like that of Terran soldiers, I was mistaken. Without stopping to even nod, they turned from us and disappeared around a corner.

"Old," I mumbled to myself as I strolled down the next corridor I came to, "But well maintained."

Despite living in and around them everyday of my waking memory, large scale spacecraft have always fascinated me. I was glad to have something less dreary to occupy my mind. As I stopped and puzzled over another intersection of hallways, I suddenly realized that I was lost, but just as quickly decided that I didn't care. Although the ship was in good shape, there were no lighted signs to tell me were each path led. Only a simple letter stamped into a metal plate marked the corridors. I shrugged and chose the one marked E, and continued on my aimless tour of the Mark II. After all, it was TJ's fault if I got lost.

The E wing seemed to lead to the crew's quarters. The hallway ended abruptly around a corner with large, open area in the shape of an octagon. Respectively, seven doors led to different rooms. Once again, there were no signs on the doors, thus, I had no idea which one led where. After choosing the first one on my right, and finding it locked, I began working my way around, trying each door. By a stroke of luck, the fourth door slid open when I hit the green button on the keypad next to it. The lights turned on automatically as I walked in. The room was simple enough; a plain bunk protruded from the wall on one side with a small metal stand next to it. It had a sink with a mirror in one corner and a boxy looking, metal dresser in the opposite. Pulling the drawers from the dresser, I only found stacks of grey jumpsuits.

Then, after discovering a small remote on top of the dresser, I clicked the power button and a holoscreen flashed to life on the wall.

"Hm," I said to nobody, "We never got to watch the news back on the Rusty Bastard."

Next to the sink I noticed a few breaks in the wall that had no exposed rivets and found it to be a supply closet. There was a refrigerated part with cold drinks, which I promptly raided, and three small lockers. I pulled one open and took out the first thing my free hand fell on. It was a photograph. After forcing down a swallow from the surprisingly awful soda I took, I got a better look at it. It was a picture of one of the soldiers and some woman standing in front of a lake or something. I decided to put the picture back and search the next locker. It was completely empty except for a gun and three boxes of ammunition. I put my drink down and carefully picked up the weapon with both hands. It was too heavy for me to aim with one hand and I felt somewhat nervous just finding it, so I put the weapon back in the locker and shut the closet. Upon turning towards the door, something metallic on the nightstand caught my eye. It was a small electronic thing roughly the same weight as the gun. I sat on the bunk and, after toying with it a minute, was able figure out what it was. The thing unfolded to reveal a small screen that lit up, complete with a miniature keypad. This was a crew's log. I checked the messages and found an unread PM. Upon opening it, it read:

"Joe, you've really got to get a handle on your drinking problem," I swallowed hard and looked again at the can I was holding and put it down on the short table. No wonder that stuff tasted a little familiar. You don't live around two drunks for years without trying the foul tasting stuff once when they aren't watching. I tried to ignore the awful after taste and continued reading,

"It's beginning to affect your work and as your superior I must not allow you to endanger yourself or another member of the crew. Lately, it's been making you forgetful as well; you don't even lock up your room, your weapons, or even your crews log anymore. Which brings me to another point, you know that we change the combination to all the general keypads once a month for security reasons. For cripes sake, Joe, even Mosely can remember the new code once I issue it. This is the last reminder; I've changed the code this month from 37249 to 44571, do take a minute to memorize this before you open a new can. "

"44571," I said out loud to myself, "That may just prove to be handy." I was just about to turn and leave the room again when something struck me. This Joe would probably notice that his room had been searched once they got back. I put the drawers back in the dresser and poured the rest of the beer down the sink. After disposing of the can, I made a final check over the room to make sure that everything appeared to be untouched before making my exit.

I felt pretty satisfied with my handiwork as I strode back up the hall way,

"Now if only some clod would leave me a map of the ship laying around, I'd be set."

As I made my way back towards the crossway between wings D and E, I heard a voice calling for me. It was undoubtedly TJ, the odd accent I couldn't place was a dead giveaway. I was more or less lost, so I answered,

"Wing D!" My voice echoed through the metal clad corridors, soon followed by the thud of approaching footsteps. There he was again, still in the grey jumpsuit and boots from earlier,

"Where'd you go, little man? I didn't say you could just run off and get lost."

"Yes you did." I corrected. Normally, this kind of insubordinate behavior in front of Bill or his sidekick would earn punishment, but this soldier only seemed to be surprised,

"I did?" was TJ's only response. I remained silent.

"Oh well, c'mon kid. I just thought it might be better if I kept an eye on you till the Cap'n gets back."

We had only begun walking and I could already tell that TJ was going to jabber the whole way,

"I'm makin' fajita's, man. You hungry?"

"Yeah," seemed to be the only word I would get through the flak.

I watched closely as Rakeem repeated the move once more. His psionic blade made the graceful combination of three swings again. The blade came down, cleaving the air, then he made two consecutive horizontal swings without rearing it back again, all in about 3 seconds. It was a very simplistic combination, but training my own arm to follow the example proved somewhat difficult. Using my good scythe, I mimicked what my friend was trying to teach me. My initial swing was as swift and devastating as ever, but when it came to changing direction and pivoting my arm at the same time for the horizontal swings, I was terribly clumsy and far too slow. My friend could sense my frustration,

"Fret not, Bane, you have the potential to become an unbeatable melee combatant. Rest for now, we'll continue your combat training once you are well enough to fight at your full potential."

"But I have not yet grown tired," I reported honestly.

"Perhaps not," my friend agreed, "But psionic training drains the warrior both mentally and physically. You must prepare yourself, cerebrate."

This confused me,

"Psionics? The zerg are not capable controlling such energies."

"Correction," Rakeem boomed, letting his blade dissolve, "The average zerg minions are not capable of manipulating psionic energy, but you are a cerebrate. Your mental capacity knows no bounds."

"Correct me again if I'm wrong," I contradicted, "But my species were not created with the purity of form, as was yours. To even wield such a power would rip my body apart."

"This is true, but fear not. You couldn't possibly harness the power required for a psionic storm or even a mere psi-blade. Your gift is of another sort."

The Templar sensed my confusion and was quick to counter it,

"You wanted to know how we found you. Your ability is the answer; had you not used it in the fight against your brethren, we may never have located you in time."

Our conversation was suddenly cut short as one of the Templar stepped into the door.

"We may have found the ship," was the only thing I heard.

"Let's go, Bane," Rakeem suddenly left me behind as he followed the other templar back into the hallway. The Protoss always strove for efficiency; they appeared to waste no time at all. I had to bound to keep up with them as they led the way. It seemed only a short walk to a small room, where we all stopped. Suddenly, two transparent doors slid shut, blocking the exit.

"This must be the Protoss equivalent of the Terran elevator." I thought. Once again, both the Templar picked this thought up.

"You are correct, Bane. But we call it a lift," came the annoying response to something I hadn't said out loud.

"So where do we go now?" This they were supposed to hear. Without warning, or an answer from Rakeem, the doors to the lift slid open again, revealing a small room with a large, blue crystal at its center. The huge gem sat silently in a podium. Rakeem and his student moved to stand before it, so I did the same. The thing had a dull, mysterious glow radiating from its center, but nothing more seemed of interest about it until the Templar reached out to it. Upon touching the crystal, it's light suddenly multiplied ten fold and a three dimensional picture was formed by its glow. Rakeem's pupil began pointing things out to us,

""This is our moon, we are holding a steady position over its surface as of now. The San'Sor is with us and providing a cloak."

"What has become of the Terran planet, Korhal?" I interrupted, in spite of myself. It was a surprise when the Templar answered me without hesitation,

"The Terran population on the planet is bottoming out. The zerg attack took them by surprise; nearly forty percent were lost in the onslaught."

"What about the rest of them?" I asked. The Templar turned the crystal slightly, and the picture blew up, making it possible to see the tiny crafts rocketing away from the planet in bunches.

"Strangely enough, nearly the entire Republican space fleet remained intact. It's as if the zerg are flowing forth from the very crust of the planet. They are leading a convoy of evacuation vessels and civilian supply ships away from the planet. It appears that they're heading for their sister planet, Tarsonis. "

This information was interesting, but I was still confused,

"So where's the mortal's ship? You said before that you have located it."

The Templar's eyes glowed fiercely for a brief second, as Rakeem's do sometimes,

"There is a problem."

"What problem?!" I snarled. The Protoss gestured towards the swarm of tiny ships with one hand as he answered calmly,

"We haven't the slightest idea which one it is." The Templar's answer only made me snarl again, but in frustration this time.

"You met the Terrans that you sent Reece with," Rakeem suddenly spoke up, "There must be something you know that could help us to distinguish them from the rest."

Although I was more interested in how Rakeem knew all that without me having mentioned it, I alternately realized that my friend was right again.

"The Terrans that I met probably wouldn't be safe traveling under Republican guard. Track any ship that isn't following the survivors to Tarsonis."

"Ah," Rakeem said with a tone of approval, "That will narrow the list down. But the convoy is quiet large; it will take time for them to clear out. Then we can get better readings."

Despite my attempts to keep up with the Templar's briefing, a familiar feeling began to overcome me, and an involuntary growl rose from the pit of my insides. One of the Templar misinterpreted it as more aggression,

"My apologies if our efforts are too slow for you, cerebrate, but if you-"

" No," I interrupted again, "I didn't intend offense."

"Then what's wrong now?" the same Templar asked.

"I feel…" I paused, searching for the right word, having not used it in so long, "Hungry. Yes, that's it. I'm hungry."

Rakeem and his brethren were taken back. For once, they were nearly speechless,

"Our facilities do not house such necessities, Bane," Rakeem finally answered.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means that we've got nothing to feed you with. We Protoss do not need to metabolize biological material in order to maintain our energy."

"Perhaps," I winced, suppressing another one of those painful, little growls, "But I do. Without proper sustenance, it will be more difficult to heal. I must hunt."

My friend didn't like the idea,

"That is far too dangerous, Bane, being injured as you are."

"If I don't eat," I argued, "I may never recover from my injuries."

"Very well," The stubborn Templar finally gave in, turning to one of his brethren, "Scan the nearby planets for thermal activity." Rakeem's students found what they were looking for in a matter of seconds.

"There's an small, uninhabited ice planet nearby; some hour's travel away. Thermals show herds Ursadon, but nothing else."

"That sounds like the right place," I blerted, "Let's go. I don't want to waste any time."

"There's more," the Protoss said, adjusting the view of the solar system with the crystal again, "The ice planet's location allows us to flank the path of the Terran convoy. This will make it easier to track any straying ships."

"Excellent work, Dair' Sar." Rakeem praised the student that spoke, "Set course for the ice planet."

"And this is the reactor room." TJ was relentless in his tour of the ship, but I didn't care. The oddly prepared things called fajita's had most of my attention. I tore into them mercilessly, one in each hand, as the soldier went on about the statistics for the Mark II.

"The Titan four reactor chamber cranks out a maximum of ten thousand kilowatts an hour and provides power for the sub-light engines."

"Big deal," I said over a mouthful of fajita, "I've seen one of those before. Get to the good stuff." Sooner or later, I knew that this goof was going to show me where the ship bay was and then I'd be able to leave as soon as I found somewhere to go. TJ laughed suddenly,

"You're something else, kid."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked in a suspicious tone. TJ only laughed again,

"Never mind. C'mon, I'll show you the ship bay."

Now he was talking. I followed TJ back into the hallway like a shadow, finishing off the last fajita as I went. I had found out how to unlock nearly any door on the ship, and soon I would know where to find my escape. I was so satisfied with my own progress that I didn't notice TJ come to a sudden stop and I nearly walked into him. When I looked up, I was surprised to see that the rest of the crew had returned and met us in the hall, minus the person I talked to in the cell and the one they called Joe.

"What's up, Cap'n? How'd everything go?" He said.

"Fair enough." Boss reported, "Blasted rebels didn't want to pay the full price for rescuing one of their leaders, but we worked out a deal."

"What kinda deal?" TJ sounded intrigued.

"Follow us to the briefing room, we'll tell you about it." Boss looked down at me after saying that,

"And we'll get to know you a little better, kid."

The briefing room was a small, rectangular place with a plain steel table at its center. Eight chairs were positioned at each side with a larger, more elevated chair at the end. I filed in after the soldiers and Boss shut the door behind us. The guy who's name I didn't know yet sat on one side of the table, while I sat with TJ on the other.

"So what'd we get from that run?" TJ asked.

"We didn't get away with very many credits," Boss answered from his seat at the head of the table, "But the rebels handed over some choice weaponry in exchange. Three prototype plasma accelerators were stolen from Republican Intelligence, and we now own two of them. But that's not the main reason were here." Boss suddenly turned to me, "What's your story, kid?"

For once, I was speechless. The only thing I could think of was my name,

"Reece is the only name I know. It's what Bill and Clem said that I came with."

"Bill and Clem?" The boss interrupted. I started again by addressing his question,

"Bill and Clem are the salvagers that took me in. You see, I'm a war orphan." Nods of understanding passed between the crew members, but they seemed to be full of questions,

"Then how did you get stuck on Korhal in that mess? And where does a talking hydralisk fit in all this?"

"Well," I rubbed the back of my neck, a habit I have when I'm nervous, "I was sent to the capitol two days ago with a shipment-"

"Aren't you kinda young to fly alone?," TJ interrupted.

"Could have fooled me," I answered. "Anyway, I was sent to the surface to deliver some ore to the militia reserve. When I got there, the place was swamped with rebels, then the zerg showed up in mass numbers."

"Why didn't you leave?" Boss asked, somewhat astounded.

"My ship was all shot up, the engines wouldn't fire. I left it to find another one when I ran into Bane."

"You mean the hydralisk?"

"Actually, Bane was a zergling then. " When I said this, I could see the silent looks of disbelief spreading out on their faces like black eyes. I ignored them and continued anyway,

"Bane got me out of the reserve and then through the desert, to the capitol. When we got there, though, there was a swarm of zerg behind us and the Korhalian defenders in front. I got through the Terran army somewhat easier than my friend."

"What happened?" TJ asked quietly. I answered with a sigh,

"The marines killed Bane. That was the last time I saw him as a zergling. They doped me up with something and I woke up back in that cell with your rebel buddy. You know the rest from there." Boss didn't seem satisfied,

"If the zergling died, how did this…Bane just suddenly become a hydralisk?"

"I don't know," was my only response to that.

"One last question, if you don't mind," TJ spoke up, "Why where you so broken up about losing a friend you barely knew?"

"From the minute it found me, that creature has done nothing but save my bacon every chance it gets. I've never known anyone, or anything, that cared if I live or die. You tend to become attached pretty quickly, given the circumstances." The briefing room was finally quiet for a few seconds, hopefully signaling the end of the questions. Then, without warning, a odd sounding chime began going off. Nobody seemed alarmed about this noise, but Boss got up and moved to the door, hitting a button on the keypad next to the door,

"Go ahead, Kip," Boss said to the panel. Apparently some of the keypads double as communicators. True to my assumptions, a wiry voice began spouting from the box in the wall,

"The Republican fleets and the civilian convoy are entering warp space for Tarsonis, do we follow?"

"Yes, we'll have better chances with the Republic on Tarsonis than we would with the zerg," he answered. I shuddered at the thought; the Rusty Bastard was probably still in orbit around Tarsonis.

"TJ," Boss called, snapping us out of our daze, "Take the kid back to one of the empty rooms, we'll decide what where going to do with him later. Right now we've got a pair of plasma guns to investigate."

I didn't argue with the decision to sweep me aside for a couple of weapons, I was getting pretty tired from the fajita's anyway. I got up without being told and began following TJ to the crews quarters, even though I already knew where they were.

An icy blast of frozen air welcomed me to the surface of this planet as a section of the floor lowered beneath me. The strange Protoss technology used no cables or wires to guide the lift down, it quietly descended on its own power, bringing the frozen surface of the ice planet closer and closer. As the lift neared the ground, I stared up in wonder of Rakeem's ship again. It floated silently above me, suspended in the frozen landscape as if it were created there. Sometimes, I thought as I began a slow lunge through the snow, technology can be as mysterious and beautiful as any feat in the natural world.

The thick snow, that had probably remained undisturbed for decades, did not give easily as I moved along in no particular path, simply putting distance between the ship and myself. My aimless sight-seeing was brought to a halt, however, when another hungry growl rose from my core. While taking a fresh lung-full of the frigid air, I searched it for any trace of a scent. Luck was with me this day, it smelled as if I had wandered downwind of a small Ursadon herd. My mouth began producing saliva at the thought of eating, and I let it run over my bottom jaw to the ground in little streams, were it melted small holes in the snow as I moved to intercept the herd.

The flat white terrain of this place seemed to go on forever, and I found myself searching for anything to keep my interests while I traveled. Finally, a line of spiky objects appeared through the snow mists, and I eagerly lunged towards them. Upon another hours travel, I had reached the things and found them to be the long-since frozen remains of a forest. Although everything here was completely lifeless, the things held back the stinging wind and made it easier to see ahead. I suddenly realized that without a direct gust of wind to guide me to the herd, I was probably never going to find prey out here before the day that Rakeem gave me was up. Lack of a scent confused me, but the thought of leaving without a meal forced me onward, in spite of myself. But when the light of the evening suns began to fade, so did my determination. One was already below the horizon, cutting the light by half, and its sister was already beginning to sink out of the sky as well. As if the threat of night wasn't enough; dark, menacing clouds were billowing up behind me, indicating a drawing snowstorm. I was nearly ready to turn around at this point and grudgingly make my way back, when I saw something. About fifty paces ahead, standing ankle deep in the snow, was a short figure. I began moving towards it and, to my surprise, the figure remained motionless as I approached, staring directly at me. I got closer and the thing came into focus more, but that's when I stopped. This thing was not a natural creature from this planet, it was unmistakably a Terran, but something I could not identify in the back of my mind told me that there was something terribly amiss about this mortal. I considered turning and heading back to the ship again at this point, but I found myself unable to do so. Something compelled me to remain a while longer.

I began approaching the silent figure again, though only through sheer curiosity now. Although it was against my instincts, I hailed this Terran,

"Who are you? What are you doing out here?" The Terran did not reply. I stopped, only six yards from the silent figure, and studied it closely. This was a Terran Ghost; the light weight armor, helmet full of targeting equipment and the signature canister rifle it held was a dead giveaway.

"You are a military personnel," I said to the Terran that still hadn't visibly flinched, "How did you get way out here by yourself?" Suddenly, the thing moved, if only a little. It simply tilted its head to one side, as if I were missing something very obvious. Fearing a possible ambush, I spun on my tail, checking the surrounding forest for more of them. There was nothing. Turning back to the silent creature I had stumbled upon, total confusion began to take me. I studied the figure before me once more, in attempt to make sense of this event, when I noticed a few startling details. First, there was a choppy breeze winding its way through the trees, the cloth parts of this Ghost's suit did not move with it. Second, and most confusing to me about this encounter, was the fact that I had no idea how this being got to where it is. There was not a single indention of a boot to be found anywhere in the surrounding snow. The blanket of powder looked totally undisturbed. It could not have been dropped here by ship, the frozen treetops prevented this, and it was most definitely not standing here during a snowstorm, waiting for me to come hunting; the Ghost's armor didn't have the slightest speck of ice on it. Soon, my mass confusion began to turn to aggression,

"Alright, mortal, I've had enough of your games! Its time you started giving some answers," I snarled, "Who are you?!"

The Ghost displayed no fear, despite the fact that I stood at nearly twice its height, but it finally responded. Releasing one gloved hand from the canister rifle, it made a fist and brought it to where its mouth would be, were not the mask in the way, and extended a finger. I recognized this gesture as one the Terrans use when they want someone to be quiet. I was about to go into a rage at this point when the Ghost moved again. Upon ending the "shut up" gesture, it held the canister rifle out with one hand and nodded in the same direction. Out of curiosity, I looked for what it was pointing at. There they were, the herd of Ursadon, standing together in a clearing visible through the low branches. The animals were a short distance away, but I had found them, thanks to the strange Ghost.

"How did you know-" I began to ask the Terran as I turned around, but to my complete surprise, the figure had vanished. I wished to stay and investigate this mystery further, but hunger had returned in full force upon sight of my prey and I finally dismissed it with one final look around and a growl of exasperation.

The Ursadon herd was taken by total surprise when my needles rained down on them. The simple creatures bayed in distress and a small stampeed ensued as the Ursadons rushed to escape, but one of their brethren lagged behind with a spread of long, poisonous spines protruding from one side. It left a short trail of blood in the snow as it limped along helplessly. I emerged from the cover of the forest, swiftly closing the distance to my meal-to-be. Using my good blade, I made a quick swing for the things throat, nearly shearing its head from the neck and bringing it instant death. The Ursadon shuddered and fell limp to the snow, leaving me to my work.

Another blast of snow announced my arrival back in the Protoss hanger. The white flakes and wind buffeted the Templar temporarily, as the lift carried me to floor level. Rakeem suddenly looked worried upon sight of me.

"Bane, what happened to you? Were you attacked?" He asked, stepping closer. I had decided on the way back to the ship to keep my encounter with the anomaly to myself, but this confused me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're a mess with blood," Rakeem answered.

"Oh, I see," now I got it, "Don't worry, its not my blood." I couldn't help but to feel as if I had said that before somewhere. One of Rakeem's students spoke up,

"We have finished scanning the sector; the bulk of the Terrans are entering warp space as we speak, en route to Tarsonis. The only remaining ships appear to automated, as reported by thermal readouts. It appears that your assumptions about these Terrans was wrong, cerebrate." I was going to say something but Rakeem answered for me,

"Set course for Tarsonis, follow the convoy." Two of the Templar, probably the same pair from earlier, nodded and turned, leaving to complete my friend's order. As I watched them go, my left arm began throbbing with pain, causing me to growl involuntarily.

"What's wrong, Bane?" my friend asked, but before I could answer, an unseen force took hold of my bad arm and it jerked convulsively with a wicked crunch of carapace. I snarled in pain and reached for the injured area with my good blade as the limb dislocated itself and snapped back into place with a sharp crack. Rakeem and his student were still watching,

"What is happening to you?" Dair'Sar asked, partially in wonder, the rest in fear. I released the breath I had begun to hold as the pain subsided, and answered his question with a slow, experimental swing of my left scythe,

"I've got my arm back."

To Be Continued...


	14. Bane 14: Revelations

"Up and at'em, kiddo! We'll be orbiting Tarsonis in less than an hour," the words intruded my dreams, along with the light TJ turned on before speaking. I fought the voice that blurted into the darkness, urging me to wake up; I never seem to get enough sleep.

"C'mon, Reece! This is getting old… The capt'n isn't gonna be happy if you're still lounging around when we're all ready to go!" TJ said again. I didn't care; they would have to dump me out of the bunk this time-there was no way I was getting up. Finally, TJ's exasperated words of defeat announced my victory,

"Screw it! I did what I was supposed to; I'll let the Boss decide what to do with you." I faintly recall the sound of foot steps and the door to my quarters opening. The lights flickered off automatically as TJ left and that was all it took; I was gone again.

"Where's the kid?" Boss asked as TJ entered the equipment room alone. Everyone looked totally different in their leisure clothes, Joe even had his infamous pair of sunglasses handy for the trip to Tarsonis.

"Reece refused to get up," TJ reported with a bored tone.

"Oh well, leave em' here." Boss said calmly. Most of the squad began to pick up their assigned bags and turn for the airlock, leading to the waiting dropship, but TJ stopped and spoke up again,

"What if the kid wakes up and starts wandering around?"

"Good point," Boss noted, setting one duffel bag on the steel grated floor and walking over to a panel next to the airlock.

"Hey, kip," He said to the small keypad after holding one button down.

"What's happen'n Cap'?" Came the static ridden voice.

"Reece won't get up so we're leaving em' here. I don't want the kid causing any trouble while we're gone, so set a level two lockdown when we take off," Boss said confidently. The panel on the wall responded almost as fast,

"Sure thing."

Immersed in this wonderful, new world of dreamless sleep, I didn't think I would ever want to wake up, but eventually I was led back to consciousness by a familiar sensation; hunger.

I sat up groggily in bed and was blinded by the automatic lights. I rubbed my defenseless eyes to shield them from the bombarding light and swung my feet to the floor. Reaching to the metal bedside table, I sleepily snatched the remote up and flicked on the holoscreen. It flashed to life, displaying some women in front of a big map, pointing out multiple weather systems. I was mindlessly staring at the hologram, pulling my boots onto my feet, when I noticed the TNN logo at the top of the screen.

"Tarsonis New Network?" I asked the empty room. I finished lacing up my boots thinking, 'Wow, we're already at Tarsonis! How long did I sleep?' before I finally remembered that TJ had come in and tried to wake me twice for just that reason.

"I wonder why everyone's so excited about going to Tarsonis," I asked myself out loud again while flicking off the holoscreen and tossing the remote to the bunk. Out of all the planets in the korpral sector, Tarsonis has taken the most heat from its long history of wars, yet civilization returns again and again to start over. The planet is greener than Korhal and has a few large cities, but nothing that really holds any value-that I could think of. If I had given it more thought, I would have figured out that they were probably there on business again, but I shrugged the thought off as another hunger pang reminded me why I even bothered getting out of bed this morning in the first place.

"Wait a minute…" I said as the door to my quarters slid shut behind me. There was one way I could find out exactly what they're doing, if Joe left his door unlocked again. My room was the last one on the row, so that made Joe's three doors down. Just like last time, the place was unlocked and I was granted access at the push of a button. The lights came on automatically and I strode over to the metal nightstand where Joe's open crew's log awaited me once more. Going straight to the com-screen, I found that two new messages had been received and read already. I opened the newest one, entitled Weapons Trade;

"Hey, Joe, doing alright, man? Try not to think about her too much, it'll only bring you down. After all, business must go on. Speaking of which, we're all gonna head down to Tarsonis to sell those plasma rifles to our rebel buddies. You ought to come with; some fresh air will do you good. Besides, why would anyone visit the most laid back planet this side of the sector without having a few drinks?"

"So," I said out loud while setting the crews log back on the nightstand, "That's why they were so intent on leaving early." I set Joe's log back to the screen it was originally on and put it back on the table without much more thought on the subject, until I went to the door. Nobody told me to stay here; In fact, they never laid out any ground rules to begin with. Technically, I could take off whenever I wanted.

After leaving Joe's room, I turned and walked for the short hallway, leading to a single door, sealing the crews quarters. At first, I began to wonder what kind of ships they have spare in their bay, but then I remembered breakfast, too.

"Meh! Tarsonis can wait," I said out loud to the empty room, announcing my decision. I thought I had everything figured out, but when I hit the button to open the door, a deep buzzing noise came from the panel. In confusion, I pressed the button again, getting the same results. A few moments passed as I thought of what I could do, when static suddenly erupted from a speaker on the panel. Seconds later, words broke through it,

"Hey kid, where you going?" The sound of another voice took me by surprise; I didn't think there was anyone else on board besides me. I hesitated, staring at the panel, trying to figure out which button would allow me to reply, when the static-ridden voice came again,

"Push the yellow button to talk," was all it said. I immediately found the said button and depressed it,

"To the galley," I said awkwardly, "Or where ever you guys keep the food around here. Why are the doors locked?" The speaker on the panel brought me the voice once more,

"Because the Cap'n ordered a lockdown. However, I don't see any harm in you getting a bite to eat. The mess wing is down the hall, to the left, four doors down-I'll unlock the right ones for you."

"Thanks," I said to the speaker, while holding down the button again. After a moment's wait, the speaker box crackled to life once more,

"Okay, the door's unlocked, kiddo. Go knock yourself out."

"But you have your plasma shields for protection; while I have only my carapace to take the blow of your warp blade. This 'sparing' test, as you call it, sounds unnecessarily dangerous." Teilon and San'Dreale stood and listened to my words without moving, nearly as still as the stone walls and floor of their training room. Ignoring me, San'Dreale closed both eyes, focusing his thoughts for the deadly warp blade. Buzzing and crackling to life, a curved beam of light grew from the templar's right hand, which was hidden beneath the tribal robes. San'Dreale held the blade up and finally turned to me,

"If what Rakeem has said about you is the truth, then you should have no fear of us." Some of the tribal robe he was wearing fell away from the hand that the held the blade, revealing a wrist shrouded in some kind of metal contraption. I took note of this immediately,

"You require machines to wield these weapons?" I asked with a sudden growl. Teilon was the one to answer this question,

"Yes, cerebrate. Only the oldest and wisest of our race are capable of maintaining the power required for a psionic weapon, much less a blade of this size."

"Well," San'Dreale interrupted suddenly, "Shall we begin?"

"Don't let me stop you," Teilon announced, stepping back to lean against one wall of the training room and watch.

"What happens if-" I began to say, but the sound of a warp blade cleaving the air interrupted me in mid-sentence. A slight pain began to throb from my left shoulder and I looked down to find a tiny slash in my carapace where San'Dreale had judged our distance perfectly; a scythe's width closer and the blade would have severed my arm.

"So be it," I snarled, throwing one blade at the Templar's throat, "Let's begin!"

With blinding speed, San'Dreale flipped his warp blade around in a circle, where it collided with my offending scythe and knocked it away. Still recovering from the speed of the swing, I was a little slow to respond to the warriors next attack. San'Dreale lunged for my chest with the point of the psionic weapon, which I managed to knock away with my left scythe. At the same time, I made a long, horizontal strike with my free blade that would have toppled the Protoss, but San'Dreale was expecting this and ducked as I made my counter. My scythe cut the empty air just before the templar leapt up again with a swift diagonal slash of his warp blade. I managed to keep clear of the swing, or so I thought, until I discovered yet another gash in my carapace, just below the right scythe joint this time. San'Dreale had stopped attacking when he noticed that I was injured again, but had begun to back away when I looked up. This was only a training drill, but I could not stop my vision from swimming in a bright red hue as I focused on the careless Templar again.

With a fierce snarl, I dove for my enemy. This time, I was the aggressor as I made a wicked swing for San'Dreale with my left scythe. The templar knocked the blade away with practiced speed, but my right was already there once more, closing the warrior's opportunity for another counter blow. While forced to block the second blade, I pressed the attack. Rage added to adrenaline, and my third swing was too quick for the occupied templar to block.

A bright blue flash met my eyes. San'Dreale's shields saved him from the crippling damage my scythes would have caused, but he stumbled to the left from the force of the impact. Instinctively, I was ready to dive on my enemy and deliver the finishing blows, when I sensed something behind me. Spinning just in time to see Teilon's blade coming for my midsection, I threw my scythes into the blades path with an outraged snarl, catching the beam of light between them before it could meet my tail.

"Two against one isn't a fair fight," I said as Teilon struggled to free his warp blade from my lock.

"Indeed," the young templar agreed, pulling his weapon free with one final jerk. Sparks flew and fell to the floor as the warp blade ran the length of my scythes. Without warning, San'Dreale's psionic voice finished for Teilon,

"No one ever said that all battles are to be evenly matched." San'Dreale was back on his feet with warp blade at the ready behind me.

"Forgive me for questioning you again, Rakeem, but why do you insist on saving this creature, even against direct orders from the Matriarch?" The tall protoss student asked while motionlessly watching a small hologram that projected from a panel, displaying the nearby stars and planets passing by as a tiny figure of the Kalimar rested in the center.

"Dair'sar, your leader Zeratul may be wise, but one cannot sit idle on the same planet for over a century and still be all knowing about the universe. At first you, yourself, doubted even the existence of this hero. Do you still feel no different now that we have found it?"

The student hesitated, lost between thought and the hologram before him,

"Indeed, I do feel…compelled to know why a simple zerg specimen has apparently been gifted with a free will and intelligence, but I still don't understand your logic. This being you claim to be a Hero is nothing more than a beast created solely for the purpose of destruction. How can one possibly believe that this Bane is capable of, or even willing to protect life?"

Rakeem did not grow angry with his students assumptions, the words merely added to the Temlpar's resolve,

"Because I have witnessed this with my own eyes," the teacher answered calmly. Silence held the control room of the Kalimar for a moment, but it was broken once again by the prodding questions of a student,

"Tell me of this time, again, Rakeem; so my faith can be renewed." At this point, Rakeem would have sighed with exasperation, as the Terran's do, but the teacher retained his stature,

"Over a century ago, not long before the disappearance of Kerrigan, my brethren and I were ordered to investigate the zerg infestation on the Terran planet of Tarsonis. Along with the task of smiting any zerg presence, the conclave bid me to bring back a number of the Terran vessels for research; to gauge the possibility of a threat from the devastated settlement. Upon arrival of the ruined planet, I found that life had returned, despite the punishment from Tasadar's mighty fleets. But all was not well. The majority of life there was zerg, followed by a single, yet sizable, settlement of Terrans. As ordered, I commanded my ships to destroy the zerg infestation there, but consequently, the city itself was totally incinerated in the blast. Upon personally moving to the surface with a small regime of zealots, we proceeded to capture the remaining aircraft in the area for research when I found the ruined form of our hero amongst those of the slain zerg. At first, I was appalled to find the body of a hunter killer still alive and was about to order it to be slain, but something in the back of my mind said otherwise. To this day, I'm not sure whether it was luck or the influence of the Khala that bid me to do what I did, but I knew then that this was a being of destiny; thus I ordered it to be brought aboard my ship with the Terran vessels." Rakeem paused momentarily to adjust the Kalimar's velocity slightly before continuing,

"Little did I know; a single Terran was captured along with the hero, and, together, they escaped our ship."

The student was still not satisfied,

"How does that signify this hydralisk we've found as a hero?" Rakeem simply continued,

"Because, my impatient Dair'Sar, the next time the hydralisk and I parted ways was in death. The noble creature sacrificed its life to save the remaining Terrans and I from the ravaging swarms of the zerg."

The Templar's student was now enthralled in the history lesson,

"Tell me of that battle, Rakeem. I wish to know every detail." Rakeem's psionic laughter rang in the control room,

"Perhaps another day, Dair'Sar. For now we must focus on-" a sharp bleeping noise sounded twice from the controls, ending the idle conversation. Dair'Sar turned from the holographic projection of the Kalimar to investigate the odd interruption.

"We are closing on the Terran planet, Tarsonis, we'll be coming out of warp space any moment now," the student reported calmly from his new post.

"Ah, then it is time to hail the cerebrate so it can find this Terran and we can continue on our mission." Rakeem said vigilantly, "Speaking of whom, where is Bane?"

Tiny particles of bone showered to the floor as sparks with a brief flash when my right scythe moved into place just in time to stop San'Dreale's long blade from cleaving into my tail. Using a likewise maneuver with my left, I simultaneously blocked Teilon's swing for my throat. The psionic weapons crackled wildly as my sparing partners held their weight against me from both sides, attempting to keep me pinned, but, due to the fact that my physical strength is easily twice that of the beings fighting me, I quickly turned both my scythes in opposite directions, throwing the blades clear of my body momentarily.

Teilon was young and fast, thus the first to recover, but I was ready for the blow and knocked the offending blade away with the closest scythe. San'Dreale's weapon was now back again, coming for my face, but I wasn't there to receive the punishment. Lunging backwards with a powerful thrust of my tail, the blade merely wiffed the empty air, leaving the templar confused as I dove forward again, throwing both scythes at my 'enemy' in a scissor-like motion. A bright flash of blue plasma shields was my reward for a successful blow and the templar was sent stumbling to the stone floor once again. Unexpectedly, a sharp pain took my backside as Teilon's swift blade ran across my unguarded side, and now it was I who lost footing. I didn't falter, however, and spun on my tail with the momentum, throwing everything I had into my left scythe.

As I had sensed, Teilon was hot on my trail when I staggered, ready to deliver another blow, when my surprise retaliation came for him. The flash of the dying plasma shield was blinding, but the sound of Teilon's body colliding with the wall of the training room assured me that I hit my mark. Panting heavily, my vision returned to normal and I was able to watch the two templar rise to their feet again, releasing their concentration for the psionic weapons they held. The crackling blue warp blades each receded to the hand from whence they were held, and the room fell silent, save for the monotonous drip of my blood running down my back to the stone tile below my tail.

"You are a formidable opponent indeed, cerebrate," San'Dreale's voice showed no fatigue, unlike the physical signs of exhaustion that the templar's body presented.

"You two aren't that bad yourselves, but If you ever hope to-" I stopped in mid-sentence as the door to the training room slid open with a sudden hiss. Dair' Sar stepped in the doorway, nodding to each of his brethren before speaking,

"Tarsonis is nearly in range. Rakeem requests a briefing with you before venturing to the planets surface."

Cold oatmeal was hardly the kind of food I was thinking of, but it was the only thing in the fusion locker that was already prepared. It took ages to find silverware and, to top the lousy meal off, the location of the sugar remains a mystery to this day. Needless to say, I was more or less sick of breakfast at the moment and ready to skip the whole thing. After shoving my half eaten bowl of chilled gruel aside, I got up and walked to the door. It opened with a hiss, allowing me to step into the hallway.

"Let's see," I thought out loud, "Which way did we go after making the fajita's?" Now I remembered, talking always seemed to help me think. Turning up the hallway, I began my search for the launch bay. As far as I could remember, It had to be on the opposite side of the ship, judging from the distance TJ led me yesterday. I retraced my steps through the twisting hallways, always trying to keep my heading whenever possible. Finally, the hallway came to a corner and I could no longer go forward. After rounding the bend, I had found what I was looking for. The thick, steel blast-door was built into one of the ships bulkheads at this point, making it a very tough seal to crack if you had to get through without the combination. I was about to press the green button on the panel to open the door when I remembered that it was locked. Hope began to fade as I tried to stare down my new obstacle, but then I remembered what I found in Joe's log the other day.

"Four…Four…Five…Seven…one.." I said the numbers out loud as I keyed the combination into the panel and pressed the open button. The panel emitted a satisfying 'Ping!' and the door rose up slowly with a whine of hydraulics.

As I stepped through the door, I was faced with yet another wing of various doors, each leading to different rooms. Working systematically, I tried the first one on the left, finding that it was the airlock room that I first arrived here in. After putting the code in for the second door, I had, at last, found what I was searching for. The lights flickered on automatically, gleaming off the freshly painted hulls of two wraith fighter jets and an armored dropship. One spot was empty, probably where a ship was parked before Boss and his gang of cohorts left with it. There was one smaller dropship on the other side of the hangar, but it appeared to be older than all the others combined. I walked up to the shining, armored vessel parked in the center of the room, jumped up to the door and grabbed the handle, but it didn't swing open as I planned when I pulled on the latch. It was locked.

"Damn," I swore while looking around nervously, as if someone could catch me at any moment. There was no way to get into the craft without damaging it, and it need to be intact to navigate the vacuum of space. Obviously, I couldn't take this ship, and even if one of the fighters was unlocked, I would have no idea how to fly it. Once again, my attention turned to the older ship parked on the far side of the hanger. Despite being aged and somewhat battle worn, the craft itself seemed to be in operable condition, that is, until I saw the opposite side. The entire quarter panel beneath the top-right aft thruster was totally mangled, as if hit by some kind of explosive. The nearby armor plates were somewhat disfigured from the blast as well, but they didn't have the massive breach like the one at the point of impact. I turned and walked to the rear of the ship and hit the button for the cargo door. To my surprise, a chime sounded from somewhere on the ship and the small door on the ship opened with a hiss and slowly climbed into its locking place on the track built into the roof of the cargo area. Relief hit me as I stepped into the ship and found the inner hull, the one that kept the ship air tight, still intact. After a moment, I found a button for the lights and discovered a slim hatch-like door at the end of the cargo hold that led to the pilots compartment. This door had no electrical locks, only a large steel hub mounted in the center.

"This ship is older than I thought," I laughed while grabbing the hub with both hands and turning it counter clockwise to break the seal. It was a little tough going at first, but then the hub loosened some and the seal finally broke with a satisfying crack. After that, it was easy to turn the hub around twice more and release the bolt that held the door shut. Once again thrilled with my own progress, it was mercilessly stamped out again as the light from the cargo area flooded the cockpit. A huge piece of the control panel was taken off and laying in the floor. Heaps of wires flooded from inside the dash board somewhere and stretched all over the cockpit like the roots of some ancient, multi-colored tree. Miscellaneous parts and tools lay strewn all over the top of the dash board and heaped in the two pilot's seats. The place was a total wreck; I was surprised, at this point, that the rear cargo door and the hold lights even worked at all. Now I was ready to go back to my room and forget the whole thing, but I looked again at the mess of wire.

"What the hell," I swore, swiping a pile of parts and tools out of the pilots seat and plunking down in it.

"I've got nothing better to do anyway."

From what I could tell, after picking up the panel and investigating the wires, there was a bad short at one time and it burned out the thrust actuator controls. Someone had apparently tried to fix them, but gave up after seeing the avalanche of wires. Some of the wire harnesses were pulled from the actuator board and the switch mechanisms were visible. The problem was obvious. The metal parts that that physically completed the circuit were burned clean through. Two of the burned switches could be sanded off and repaired but those for vertical thrust were totaled. Once I put the dash back together, I could feed the wires for the burned switches through somewhere and rig a connection for them, but before I could find the right wires I had to turn get the power back on in the cockpit, and before I could do that, I had to find the short so it wouldn't blow my repair work up all over again. What a mess!

Setting the panel and wire harnesses aside, I got up and went back outside to investigate the big hole in the starboard side, as it was the most likely cause for the short. The rip in the hull looked even worse, somehow, as I approached it again. The damaged panel had to be removed, but it was held on by a number of rivets around the outside. I stood back and glanced around the hangar once more in search of another door besides the one I came in with; there had to be someplace where they stored tools to service the ships. I soon discovered what I needed.

"Greetings, Bane. I trust that your training session was…educational," Rakeem announced as Dair'Sar led us to the bridge.

"I was told that we are near Tarsonis and that you requested word of me before going to the surface," I said, ignoring the off handed statement. Rakeem noticed the drying blood on my carapace, and answered me with another question,

"You're hurt again?" Teilon and San'Dreale exchanged a silent glance, but I dismissed it with an impatient growl,

"Think nothing of it! What did you want to tell me?" My friend gave a cold stare to his students, but snapped out of it halfway through.

"When we left Korhal," Rakeem finally began, "Our observer was left on the planet's moon to monitor the zerg's activity."

"And?" I interrupted when the old Templar paused momentarily. He continued without showing any notice of my impatience,

"The swarms are massing their forces on Korhal, consuming every natural resource available, as we expected."

"Indeed," I snarled, "I could have said as much."

"However," Rakeem said with added emphasis this time, "The zerg are creating an odd formation just outside of the planet's atmosphere made of hundreds of their fliers. It…alarms me that I don't understand the nature of this phenomenon; I was hoping that you could identify it for us." The Templar stepped aside and put a hand to one of the crystals set deep in the controls of the Kalimar. It glowed slowly to life at first but the light quickly intensified and became a three dimensional picture in the air, taking the shape of Korhal with its silent moon. I've heard the Terrans speak of this type of technology before, but I couldn't recall the odd name they gave it.

A pair of shifting objects hovered in a mass next to the planet that competed in size with its moon. I moved closer and Rakeem adjusted the view some, bringing the curious collection of creatures in space into focus. They were both moving in giant, whirl wind formations, endlessly churning inwards towards the center. As I watched, more zerg were visible rising from the planet in small flocks, joining their spinning brethren in the void of space. Suddenly, as if the answers were in the back of my mind all along, I knew what they were trying to do.

"The over mind is using them to create dimensional rifts. The entire swarm is…leaving the planet." I finally announced to the silent templar. The resulting expressions on their faces could probably be called the Protoss equivalent to disbelief.

"What are you saying, Cerebrate? The zerg are capable of warp travel?!" San'Dreale blurted.

"Not in the terms that you and the Terrans think of," I continued before Rakeem could scold the student for speaking out of line, "The zerg's form of high distance travel is much faster than your methods; its nearly instantaneous. The only drawback is the time needed to initially open the rift."

"How much time?" Rakeem asked quickly. Now, I was the one who hesitated,

"A few hours, maybe less."

Now the look of urgency on the Templars' faces was doubly renewed.

"Can you tell us where they are going?" My friend practically pleaded. As the Terrans sometimes do, I sighed before answering,

"Not right now. The over mind is in a deep state of meditation, I cannot harness it's will until the warp rifts are complete." For a brief moment, the Kalimar's bridge was silent, until Rakeem finally spoke again as if his concern about the zerg was never there,

"We have come out of warp space and a shuttle has been prepared to take you to the surface the planet," came the templar's telepathic voice while he changed the image of the swarms to a picture of Tarsonis, "If the zerg are traveling here, we won't have much time. How are you going to locate this Terran among so many others in only a few hours time?"

"It matters not if the zerg invade; the mortal's safety is all that holds merit," I responded, almost coldly.

"If there's no harm in my asking," Teilon suddenly piped up, "Why?" The question must have been on all their minds, because when one student finally presented it, all eyes were on me for the answer.

"Reece," I began with a low snarl, "must live because his mind emits a powerful psionic signal that has disrupted the over mind's control over me. If this mortal is slain-" The sense of urgency I was trying to convey visibly struck the Templar at this point and Rakeem interrupted me in mid-sentence,

"Why did you not mention this before?!" The Templar blurted,

"Take Bane to the shuttle immediately!"

"Alright," I said out loud while using the rivet puller to remove the last fastener from the damaged panel,

"Let's just see what this looks like." I gave the tool a jerk, removing the final rivet, and the piece of twisted metal plating fell to the floor, clattering loudly.

"Not again!" I complained to the ship as I discovered another mess of wiring harnesses. Upon closer inspection, I found that there wasn't nearly as many as in the cockpit, but these were all blasted apart, leaving burned, frayed ends sticking out like the spines of an unruly metallic cactus. This was going to take a good pair of scissors and a lot of duct tape. I stepped back from the ship with a sigh and started walking towards the tool room once more.

By the second hour into this…project I had gotten myself into, I was thoroughly hungry again, and seriously considering the possibility of ordering some take-out on Tarsonis somewhere, but I was finally able to pound the last rivet back into place and set the tools aside. I stepped back once and admired my handiwork. The damaged panel had been painstakingly hammered into a resemblance of its former shape, making the rip in the hull look much less intimidating once it was reattached. Luckily, I found a supply of spare wire to replace what was destroyed, but it was barely enough. Noticing that some of my silver-clad repair work was still visible through the cracks left in the plating; I made a mental note to burn the reverse thrusters on the way into the atmosphere so I wouldn't bake the wiring all over again. If I lost stabilizer control in re-entry…I shuddered at the thought.

Hot wiring the actuator controls in the cockpit was much easier than my previous repair, but getting the control panel back together is an entirely different story. There were small pieces of paneling that had to go back on and each one had different screws; all of which were scattered all over the cockpit amongst the heaps of extra parts and old tools. The last fastener eluded me for nearly twenty minutes until I found it, at last, under the pilots seat in the far corner. With both repairs finally complete, all I had to do now was get the power back on in the cockpit and see if everything lit up like it was supposed to.

The location of the breaker panel became one final mystery until I found it mounted on the wall of the cargo compartment in plain view. The cover was held in place by a latch and it swung open on squeaking hinges, revealing a stunningly simple breaker cluster. There were two switches to toggle the power in the cockpit set below one large main switch and with 5 others below them, probably for the engines and power to the cargo hold.

"Okay," I sighed. I couldn't believe it; I was hesitating again. I shook my head and reached for the two bottom breakers, which were set to "Off". I closed my eyes and hoped once more that nothing erupted in sparks and flipped both the switches at once. Nothing happened. I sighed again, but in relief this time, and reached for the final switches with more confidence. Just as my fingers met the breakers, a loud, intruding voice echoed through the cargo compartment, nearly making me jump out of my boots,

"How did you get in here?!"

I turned slowly towards the open cargo door with one hand still on the breakers, expecting some huge marine-like person to be pointing a rifle at me. My assaulter was barely a foot taller than me, and wasn't pointing a gun at me either. He looked like a mix between Terran and machine; this half pint was decked out with more utility belts than three people could affectively use, all packed with full looking zipper pouches, hand tools, interchangeable screwdriver bits, wire, remotes, batteries, what appeared to be a portable electric driver, complete with a various array of electronic attachments and communications equipment.

"What are you doing?!" The unshaven face said again from beneath a pair of bulky electronic goggles, a headlamp and two headsets. I could barely conceal a laugh, and at the same time, realized that my right hand was still on the breaker for the pilots compartment. Instead of answering this person, I pulled the switch. Seconds later, the reassuring hum and bleep of the panels and onboard computers coming to life in the cockpit told me that my repair job wasn't a flop after all.

"You're that person from the intercom, aren't you?" I finally spoke, letting my hand drop from the breaker. This person was obviously awe struck; and didn't answer my question for a few moments.

"The names, Kip," he finally spoke again, but in a more respectful tone, "How did you do that?"

"It took a while, but for the most part, this was easy. I've been doing repairs on small craft all my life."

"All your life?!" Kip mimicked my voice while walking up the ramp and past me to investigate the pilots compartment, "And how long has that been?" Ah, I thought wisely, another person that judges me by my age. I rolled my eyes,

"Give me a break; I turn thirteen in four months!"

"Impressive…" Kip murmured as he turned the lights on in the cockpit and checked the read outs on the diagnostic screen. I wasn't sure if it was said in sarcasm of my remark or in compliment of my second rate repair job, but I remained silent none the less.

"Does anyone here know that you can do this?"

"Probably not," I answered after another moment of hesitation. Kip turned from the cockpit and stood to face me again before replying,

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well," I recalled, "I told them that I knew how to fly a ship, but I didn't say anything about being able to repair them." After an uneasy silence, Kip finally spoke up again.

"You know kid, I know what you were planning here."

"You do?" I asked, trying to play dumb. Perhaps these guys aren't all halfwits, as I had proposed by how loose the security was. Kip continued,

"Yep, sure do. And if the captain were to find out, he'd be pretty upset, and both you and I would be in trouble." I held my tongue in defeat; I thought I was as good as caught.

"That's why," Kip said, peeling the goggles off his face, revealing one that was surprisingly young, "The captain will never know that you left."

"What?!" I was shocked. After stealing their entry code, and being caught in the act of taking one of their ships, however rickety it was, this person was just going to let me do it anyway. I must have had a strange expression on my face, because Kip started laughing at me,

"Don't look so surprised, kiddo! Believe me, you're not the first crew member of the Mark II to take off without permission. Hell, I've even left, myself, a few times." His words didn't help much, I was still stunned, unable to think of what to say. Kip seemed to notice this and kept talking,

"Yeah, kid. It happens more often than you think; everyone has their reasons for leaving once in a while. Speaking of which, where are you planning to go?" A question! I could finally get a word in on the conversation,

"I-I was going to the planet for some fresh air," I stuttered. I would have said more, but Kip interrupted me,

"Never mind, I don't need to know the real reason anyway. But, if you are to go anywhere, you must know two things. The most important one is, don't tell the Boss that I had any part in this; and secondly, everybody is due back tomorrow at noon. Do us both a big favor and make sure that you're here before they are, alright?"

"Um…Okay." I said dumbly, still in disbelief. Kip nodded and turned, walking back out of the ship, but he stopped before walking out of view,

"By the way, with that big rip in the hull on the right side, it would be smart to burn the reverse thrusters on your re-entry." At last, I was able to respond,

"I've already planned on that," I spoke with a little more confidence than before. With one final nod, kip was gone. Realizing that I was still standing in the same spot next to the breaker box, I shook my head and tried to take in everything that just happened.

"This was too easy," I said to myself, slamming the breaker box closed.

The doors were all sealed, the power was on and the diagnostic system had just finished running a basic scan, reporting no problems.

"Okay," I spoke to myself again while buckling the double seat belt that was too big for me to do any real good,

"Let's see what you can do."

I set the controls to hover and nervously flipped the four switches that fed power to the engines. At first, nothing happened, but then a tiny, high-pitched whine came to my ears. The ship's single diagnostics screen bleeped, indicating that the engines where online. The whining sound grew some, but I still hadn't felt the slightest shudder in the ships position. For nearly a minute, the only thing that told me anything was evening happening was the monotonous noise from outside.

"That's it?" I asked the ship in disappointment. As if trying to answer me, the whining noise began sputtering, causing the floor to shake beneath my boots. Suddenly, the low sound exploded into a roaring static, causing the ship to lurch into the air. The walls of the hanger instantly slid to the right in the windshield and, for a fleeting moment, I didn't have my hands on the controls. I lunged for them and instinctively pulled it back and to the left, but my efforts were far too late. If it weren't for the seatbelts I was wearing, I would have been thrown out of my seat as the ship collided with the hanger wall. The engines stumbled with the impact, but they came roaring back in response to the controls.

"Easy there, old girl!" I crooned to the lumbering machine, easing the controls to idle again. The ship leveled out and managed to stay in roughly the same spot, allowing me to turn it 180 degrees in place. I couldn't hear myself think over roar of the engines, but the huge bay doorway leading to the air lock was now in front of me. I eased the wheel in and the ship noisily, yet obediently, crept forward into the corridor. After a moment of waiting, the neo steel doors slid shut, sealing the air inside the hangar. Finally, the blast doors for the main bay opened, revealing the dark, endless abyss of space with the teal-green planet of Tarsonis looming in the middle of it.

"What?! You cannot be serious, Bane," Rakeem blurted. His students stood with him, in equal disbelief, blocking my way to the rear of the Protoss craft, where I knew, from somewhere in my memory, that a door of some kind offered passage to the inside.

"We cannot let you go alone," My friend demanded once more, but firmly this time.

"Though you have my gratitude, it was foolish to risk your lives to save me in the first place. I will not allow you to risk yourself or even one of your students by sending them with me now," I told them with a verbal snarl, "Now stand aside!" My words did nothing, the four templar remained.

"Cerebrate, heed our advice," Teilon spoke this time, "The Terrans on the planet will attempt to kill you on sight, and worse yet, when the zerg arrive-"

"Enough!" I growled impatiently, "If you ever want me to help you after this endeavor by playing along as your hero, you must learn to trust me. If I do not have your complete confidence in my motives, what is the point in helping me at all?" Finally, the Protoss were struck silent.

"But Bane," the eldest Templar began again,

"Rakeem," I interrupted once more, but without another offensive verbal noise, "There is something I can sense about this…anyone of you that goes with me will not come back alive. I have already caused too much death since my awakening. I don't wish to be responsible for another lost life, especially one of your students'."

The Protoss seemed to be just hanging there, totally expressionless.

"You have my word that I will return to you, honor it by letting me do this alone." I said at last, almost in a tone of defeat.

"Very well," Rakeem finally gave in, speaking with his eyes closed, "You may go alone in search of your friend. Just…" the templar paused, looking for the right words.

"I know; I'll be careful." I finished for him. With a nod, my friend stepped aside, motioning for his students to do the same. Dair 'Sar put his hand against a silvery panel next to the shuttle door as I approached, causing it to slide open silently, revealing the dull, yellow-clad interior of the craft. I slithered on board, using a short hop to reach the slightly elevated floor of the shuttle. As I turned around inside the ship to face the Templar again, Dair'Sar began speaking once more,

"I've pre-programmed the ship to take a course directly to the planet's surface. According to thermal scans, you'll be within half a day's travel of the planet's capitol. You can start your search there." I returned Rakeem's nod to the Templar, mimicking the horizontal movement of the head that told them I understood. Then, as if by silent command from their master, the students began filing out of the hangar, leaving me with the ship. After a moment, Rakeem took a step forward. I could sense the ancient Templar had need to say something more. I felt inclined to know what it was,

"What troubles you, my friend?" The Protoss seemed relieved that I asked, yet unsure how to answer me. After a moment of thought, Rakeem spoke,

"When you reach the surface, you are sure to find many dangers. You may be strong, but you must always remember; you're mind is the most powerful weapon you have."

"I'll try to remember that advice," I promised. The Templar nodded again and stepped back towards the door.

"The shuttle must be activated from the bridge; may the best of luck go with you, Bane." Rakeem announced from the thresh hold of the hangar.

"Fear not for my safety," I responded with a snarl this time, "You have only to keep yourself and your students alive. I shall return."

"Do you believe it was wise to allow such an asset to venture alone into the hands of imminent danger?" Teilon asked while activating the shuttle from the control's of the Kalimar.

"I also sense a looming menace," the teacher answered solemnly, "But Bane's actions in life are bound by fate; despite whether the cerebrate understands that fate or not." The control room was unusually quite, even with all four templar present, as a hologram was activated. The image blinked into existence, revealing a view of Tarsonis with its two moons. The view was zoomed in, and a tiny figure of the Kalimar appeared . After a moment, the shuttle appeared from one of the many hangar bays, barely visible compared to the massive carrier that it sped away from. The image was brought closer, yet again, and followed the shuttle on its short course to the planets surface.

"Something is troubling you, Rakeem," San'Dreale, the oldest student spoke suddenly, "What is this dark cloud that torments your thoughts?"

There was a pause before the templar replied, and the glow of its eyes wavered as he answered,

"There is something amiss about Bane that I have yet to confront with him. The Hero did not recognize me at first sight, and in those moments back on Korhal, I could feel a silent, heavy fog plaguing the creatures mind. Though the presence of an old friend, such as myself, may have helped to clear it, the Over Mind may still have some powerful influence over the cerebrates thoughts."

"What does this mean?" San'Dreale interrupted, becoming urgent.

"Despite being free of the tyrant's control, I fear that Bane may not be able to recall events past before the swarms reappeared. It seems the Over mind has already began to make efforts to block our path forward."

The silence returned to grip the bridge for several minutes more; the Templar's answer caused nothing but a new tangle of questions in the students' minds. Suddenly, an odd alarm broke the tension by sounding twice. Teilon checked the controls in front of him for the source of the disturbance and announced his discovery promptly,

"The shuttle has safely breached the planet's atmosphere, but it's sensors are picking up four Terran air ships in range and an odd signal. Should I relay the message?"

"Indeed; this could be urgent," Rakeem told his pupil. After making a few adjustments to the communications panel, Teilon was able to translate the Terran transmission. A psionic amplifier began radiating the voice of a stern Terran female,

"-I repeat! This is Lieutenant Conners of the fourth Tarsonis Valkyrie fleet hailing the unidentified Protoss vessel! You are in violation of Terran airspace without authorization; turn back now or your ship will be destroyed!"

The closed interior of the Protoss craft seemed even smaller with the door in place. The ship had moved beneath me, but the enclosing yellow walls offered no windows to view the outside with. After a few moments of shifting in direction, the ship seemed to finally be satisfied with its position and I could sense acceleration. At this point, the trip became quite uneventful, and one begins to search for something to occupy the free mind. As I took in the details of the shuttle's interior, I couldn't help finding the forged yellow walls somewhat familiar. Without warning, the Protoss craft began vibrating intensely, yet, it seemed to be keeping its course, thus I grew custom to the turbulence in a few minutes' time. Once again, my thoughts began to drift, and blurry images of the inside of the shuttle tugged at my mind's edge.

I could nearly recall the event, but it remained just out of reach; an ancient image clouded beneath murky water. Yet, despite my difficulty recalling how or when, I was positive that my path had led me to this same situation once before. Suddenly, something new and clear burst into my mind, shattering the dull memory of the past,

"Bane! Listen to my words!"

I was taken back; this was Rakeem's voice, but the Templar was nowhere to be seen. As I turned and scanned the craft again for the source of the message, it came again,

"A number of Terran attack ships are enroute to your location. Brace yourself; we must start the shuttle's evasive formations."

Despite the message Rakeem sent me, the ship began smoothing out and the dull whistle of the craft sliding through the air could be heard. A few moments passed uneventfully, but soon a new sound began droning in through the hull of the craft. The sound was weak at first, but it grew intensely, until the roar seemed to be coming from all directions.

Suddenly, I realized that Rakeem was correct; only Terran machinery makes so much noise while operating. As if the shuttle had read my thoughts, the engines roared to life and threw the ship into a sharp, spiraling dive so quickly that I slid backwards into the rear cargo door despite the craft's nearly vertical incline. To my dismay, gravity caught up with momentum in a few seconds time, and the other side of the cargo hold came rushing back up to meet me.

The impact wasn't as painful as I previously anticipated, but the metallic clang that resounded inside the yellow shell was deafening. Although somewhat dazed from my fall, I attempted to stand on what was now the front wall of the cargo hold, when I realized my right scythe had punched through the hull of the vessel and had become lodged. With an agitated snarl, I ripped my blade free of the metal. The second my scythe was free, air roared through the hole and some kind of annoying alarm began going off. As the shuttle rocked and heaved in its suicidal dive, yet another new sound became audible over the static of noise in the cargo hold. Whistles erupted from somewhere outside multiplying in number and volume, until even the shuttle seemed to hear it. Its engines screamed a different note and the craft corkscrewed into a sharp, banking arc that threw me to the floor on my back.

"I hate machines!" I growled as the powerful force of the high speed turn pinned me flat against the floor.

Without warning, explosions buffeted the ship relentlessly. Although the plasma shields could be heard absorbing the brunt of the attack, the ship trembled violently and the onboard lights flickered out. The engines stumbled this time as the ship desperately swerved in the opposite direction, slinging me to one wall again. More of the whistling attacks could be heard, but I could do nothing but wait for them to collide with my metal shell. As expected, a number of explosion ensued, however, the plasma shields failed shortly into the second volley, and the shuttle was sent tumbling out of control beneath the pummeling attacks from the Terran ships. As I crashed from wall to wall, the engines sputtered and died altogether.

I believe, in my spinning, nauseating daze, that I could hear the Terran attackers breaking away from the pursuit, but it was difficult to tell over the clanging recoil of my carapace colliding with the metal walls and the rush of air outside the lifeless vessel. Just when I began to wonder if one could fall forever and was nearly ready to lose every last bit of Ursadon that I carried with me, the world came crashing to a stop.

There was a great wrenching of metal as I met the other side of the cargo hold instantly. Flames leapt up from every crevice of the crumpled interior of the ship, consuming my vision and finally, at long last, the calm, the pain-free world of unconsciousness threw its black cloak over my mind.

"This looks like as good a spot as any," I said to myself, easing the throttle in. The engines roared in defiance, but, never the less, the rickety ship had made it through the atmosphere and was now slowly rumbling its way to the ground with the help of the thrust actuators I had repaired. I noticed some pedestrians staring as I set my ship down in one of many landing spaces in front of the Cells and Shells refueling station and restaurant. The engines sighed and sputtered to a stop as I killed the power to them and shut down the running lights. The humid air hit me like a wall as I opened the pilots hatch and climbed down the side of the ship.

"I didn't think it would be this hot on Tarsonis!" I exclaimed as my boots hit the pavement. Without warning, my stomach grumbled irritably, telling me that it was far past time for breakfast. As I stared at the odd sign advertising the Cells and Shells, it reminded me of the fajita's T.J. had made when I first arrived on the ship. I reached into the pocket of my tunic and palmed the few coins I had there. It was incredible that the things managed to stay with me since I left the Rusty Bastard, but they were of little value when compared to a hot meal. I left the ancient ship in its spot and eagerly walked towards the entrance of the Cell and Shell.

The Cell and Shell must have been a common stopping point for tourists because the store's owner kept racks of free brochures in plain sight next to the counter. I ordered two manager's specials, whatever they happened to be, and picked up one of the brochures with the words "Explore Tarsonis!" in big, goofy letters and began flipping through it. According to the pamphlet, Tarsonis was a temperate planet with plenty of leafy scenery and wildlife that flourished in the wake of the zerg's disappearance. I turned the page and a list of tourist attractions was laid out on a map of the city with their exact co-ordinance marked next to them. The Tarsonis Towers and the Second and Third Garrison Memorials where open at all hours. There were tours of the ancient crash site of the first sub-light vessels just outside the city and a guided trip through the abandoned Confederate headquarters that ran twice a day. I was actually becoming interested in the multitude of leisure activity available when a odd voice broke my train of thought,

"Hey kid! Order up!" A bored looking clerk behind the counter stood waiting for me to pay for my order. I walked up with brochure in hand, and, before I knew the price, I dumped my small pile of coins on the steel counter. The clerk gave me an odd look before sliding about half of the coins into one hand.

Much to my surprise, the manager's special was remarkably similar to fajita's, only with a salted, crunchy shell instead of the bread-like wrap.

"Must be why they named this place the Cell and Shell," I thought while making quick work of my purchase beside the beat up old ship that brought me here. Some passing customer's stared at me as they entered the store, but I paid them no attention. Once the crunchy-fajita's were no more, I brushed my hands clean, to an extent, and climbed back into my ship through the pilot's hatch. Even though the old bucket was on its last wing, I felt more comfortable being aboard as I opened the brochure again. I had never been anywhere on a leisure trip before, and not having an official destination left my mind somewhat blank.

"Well," I spoke to the silent interior of the ship, "You can never really say that you've been somewhere until you have the T-shirt. I bet the Confederate Headquarters tour has a souvenir shop."

I tossed the brochure onto the heap of scrap parts and tools that still plagued the copilot's side of the cockpit and flipped a few switches. The lights on the panel of the ship glowed to life as the ships reserve of cells fed power to the engines. They obediently stumbled and coughed, as they first had back in the hangar, before finally roaring to life with enough noise to make most of the pedestrians in sight turn and stare in wonder that the ship was still capable of flying. I couldn't help laughing as I throttled the ragged engines up to lift off and the noise effectively doubled.

I awoke to darkness, snarling as I found my movement restricted, but everything had, at least, stopped spinning and my vision adjusted to the low light level in seconds. The hull of the shuttle seemed to be totally mangled from its crash landing, and it was practically crumpled around me. After managing to twist one scythe in its place, I began pulling the blade free. The metal moaned before giving with a terrible screech as it was torn by my scythes' monomolecular edge. With one arm now usable again, I was able to force the heated, pliable metal back. Soon, with both scythes free, the defenseless metal shell gave easily beneath my blades.

Loose plates on the hull and cables hindered my escape, but I had finally slashed and hacked a path through the wreckage and now only trees surrounded me. I turned and to investigate the shuttle only to find it to be nothing like the sleek vessel it once was. All that remained of the ship was a smoldering heap of twisted metal at the end of a newly cleared path in the forest. There was a trail of pieces of the craft that had been ripped off as it came down through the canopy and rolled to a stop, more or less disintegrating in the process. Debris and wreckage was everywhere.

"Machines…" I growled in disgust. From observing the nature of the crash, I realized it was very well that the templar did not come with me. Their stealth and swift blades would have been enough protection to afford them nothing but imminent death in such an event; only something coated in a solid layer of carapace could have survived. I was about to turn and leave the smoldering wreck when I also remembered that the Templar's communications equipment was probably scattered all around me in useless pieces as well as most of the ship. Surely, they knew the ship had been attacked and gone down, but they had no way of knowing if I survived or not. I scoffed at the thought of trying to use a machine, even if it where intact, and came up with another idea.

I am still a cerebrate, I thought, cerebrates can give commands and see through their minions eyes from across galaxies. It seemed quite feasible that I could send a psionic message to Rakeem, only a mere hundreds of thousands of miles away on the Kalimar in the shadow of the second moon. I closed my eyes in concentration, blocking out the ambient noises of the forest around me.

At first, nothing happened. However, I was soon made aware of every living presence nearby. Nothing but small animals and wildlife occupied the surrounding forest. I mentally searched for Rakeem, shifting my life-seeking thoughts to the second moon. The void of space left bottomless black pits in my thoughts, bringing the form of a huge obstruction in space to my mind's eye in bright contrast. The Kalimar. I could sense four beings on the ship, but had no idea which one was Rakeem. It was impossible to differentiate between the life sources, hence, I simply spoke to them all,

"Rakeem," I sent the message forward. An air of confusion grew with my minds touch, so I called to my friend again,

"Rakeem, your Hero hails you. Speak." This time, a reply came echoing into my thoughts,

"Bane! You live! How is it possible?" It was Rakeem's telepathic voice, their was no mistaking it.

"I've told you before, old Templar; fear not for my safety. I only have need of your guidance."

"Our shuttle has been destroyed; how will you escape the planet?" My friend's response came instantly.

"I shan't repeat myself," I would have snarled, had my mind not been submerged in deep meditation.

"Very well," Rakeem said uncertainly, but with a new sense of trust, "What say you, Cerebrate?"

"I am somewhat…disoriented from my crash and all view of my surroundings has been blocked by this forest. In which direction would I travel to reach the city? I sense the mortal is close." This time, there was a few moments hesitation before the Templar answered,

"According to the co-ordinance of the shuttle's last emergency signal, you are closer to the city than we originally calculated. Travel south-east, you should reach a break in the forest in no more than an hour."

"You have my gratitude, old friend. I'll contact you again when I've found Reece."

"As you wish; we shall await word from you here," Rakeem responded for the last time, "May luck be with you, Bane."

I released my concentration with a mental sigh and the psionic imprint on my mind became dark and fuzzy, until it faded out completely. The sound of the forest and other senses of reality returned and I opened my eyes to the same monotonous trees and scattered shuttle wreckage they were closed to. Wasting no more time, I turned in the direction Rakeem gave me and started off through the trees, leaving the shattered Protoss craft behind.

Rakeem's prediction of the travel time seemed to be somewhat off. After hacking and slithering through the trees, plants and other various forms of clinging undergrowth for well over the proposed hour, the terrain finally gave, and traveling became easier. The direction must have been accurate, at least, because the mortal's mental signature grew stronger with every passing moment. However, as the forest thinned, a new, nagging thought echoed from the dark corners of my mind. In spite of myself, I initially ignored this odd second call while climbing one last hill.

True to the Templar's words, the outskirts of a Terran city suddenly ended the forest altogether. Trying to stay hidden from view amongst the last stand of trees, I was finally able to get a better view of my surroundings. A short, grassy stretch seemed to be the only border between the natural wilderness and towering buildings separated by rows of streets. Oddly, Terran activity in this area was much lighter than one would expect. A thin cement path was set through the grass lane behind the buildings, with benches and odd metal poles that held lights, lining the miniature street in intervals along its length. As I looked around, I could sense a being drawing nearer, and scanned the bases of the buildings for activity. In seconds, I found what I had sensed.

A Terran dressed in brightly colored cloths came out of one of the buildings to my left and began running towards the path in the grass. It obviously wasn't running in distress or fear of something, this I could tell by the lazy pace the Terran used while watching some device that was strapped to one arm. It crossed the grass and, to my surprise, began running down the cement trail toward my stand of trees. Obviously, this puny being posed no threat, yet it continued to lope fearlessly closer, until it passed me altogether. Only when I turned to stare in awe of this creature's reckless aloofness, did the Terran suddenly stop in its tracks and spin around, finally realizing that there was a bullet-proof killing machine idly watching its every move. For a moment, nothing happened. The Terran simply stood in trembling fear of my potential wrath, in complete spite of itself. At last, I turned my head to one side, speaking with a low growl,

"Greetings, cowardly mortal."

The petrified creature exploded in a series of shrill screams, sprinting away so fast that it tripped and stumbled to the ground twice before it ran out of sight between two of the giant buildings.

"Terrans…" I couldn't suppress a snarl of laughter as I looked again at my surroundings. No one seemed to be drawn by the commotion, but time was of the essence. I couldn't take the fastest routes through the city in plain sight, that much was obvious.

Without warning, my senses heightened again, but this time it was something deep in my mind that alerted them. The thought I ignored while finding the city now came bursting forth, and I wished I had listened to it the first time.

It was more difficult to find the Confederate Tour than I expected, but I still made it in time for the evening run. There were a lot of other tourists there with camera's and a big group of kids, all even younger than me. I found a spot to stand in the back of the group as I some woman led the tour from the first floor to the surveillance room, showing off the ancient collection of video monitors and control boards while running her big mouth about various facts of the confederacy.

"This is the room where every move of the Confederate staff was secretly monitored," the guide explained with practiced flawlessness, "It was said to be in operation even until Mengsk, who held control of the Terran planets for nearly a decade after the fall of the Confederacy, was mysteriously murdered and thrown from his forty-seventh floor office in the capitol of Korhal. Named the Cropolis tower, this is the sister building of the famed Capitol building, and, if you've seen the two by now, you'll see many likenesses between them today on our tour."

The whole thing went on like that for about forty minutes as our guide led us through eight floors of the building, explaining not only the confederate history, but going into detail about the other factions that held control over the three primary Terran planets to the present day. By the end of it, I was thoroughly sick of history. The best thing the guide said was something near the end, along the lines of,

"Thank you for visiting the Confederate Tours, today! The gift shop is on your right before the exit."

At last I was free. I made a mental note not to visit the this part of Tarsonis again as I strode ahead of the lumbering crowd of day trippers. With its glass windows and bright glowing signs displaying the word 'Blizzard' in big, weird letters, I'm not sure how I didn't see the gift shop the first time I walked in. The small store built into the former lobby of the building had just about everything from lunchboxes and coloring books to T-shirts and hats. I wove my way through the mob of tourists that had followed me in until I reached the shirt rack. There was one that was colored like a marines power suit and another with the buildings name in big letters, but the third one was a sure winner. It was plain grey but it had the image of a hydralisk ripping through the fabric on the front. I paid for my choice find with the last of my coins and left the overrun gift shop and the building clutching the purchase in both hands.

"This was worth the whole trip!" I swapped the top half of my stained white slaves tunic, still cut to ribbons on the back, for the clean novelty shirt. Suddenly, I felt a great weight fall on me, I haven't given much thought to Bane lately. After all, I lost count of how many times the strange, reincarnating beast had saved my life in the short span of our friendship. I shook my head in attempt to clear my thoughts, when a brilliant flash lit the world.

It was brief, somewhat akin to lighting, but the intense light seemed to last longer. I rubbed my sore eyes and looked around. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who saw this because the tourists and pedestrians on the sidewalk had all stopped, too. Some people began looking and pointed skyward, so I craned my neck, as well, to see what had caused all the commotion. There was a great swirling formation hung in the sky like a new sun, except this one offered no light. It shifted and grew, and at last began to lose its shape, seeming to spider off into different pieces.

"Wow," I said out loud, digging in my pockets for the Tarsonis brochure, "I didn't hear about these things on the tour!"

The brochure wasn't in my pockets, so I simply watched the odd spectacle in the sky as I walked back to my ship. The thing seemed to be growing still, shifting and contorting like a cloud, and it was always drawing more and more attention. Air and street traffic even began slowing down as people stared. I began to realize that this wasn't an expected event, and fear began to replace the wonder that the phenomenon had brought. I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad could come of this, even when aboard the ship again. As I watched all forms of traffic come to a stand still through the windshield, the radio's com-light began blinking. I leaned forward and flipped the communications equipment on and a crackling message erupted from the ancient speakers hidden somewhere in the cockpit,

"--not return to the ship," the message began in mid-sentence, "I repeat, this is the Mark II hailing Interceptor one and Reece, do not attempt to return to the main ship. The airspace here has been completely compromised!"

This was Kip's voice, something sounded Terribly wrong,

"Local space has been totally overrun with zerg; they came out of nowhere, hundreds of them are emerging from some kind of warp space portal and descending to the planet! Nearby orbiting craft have been wiped from the radar, and more bogeys are closing on my location. I don't know how much time I--Oh shit!"

After Kip swore, the radio went silent. The signal was still strong, but nobody was speaking. I sat motionlessly in the pilots chair , listening, waiting for something to happen; when the source light blinked twice and went out. I felt numb as I listened to the sound-less radio. Without warning, another transmission suddenly came in,

"This is interceptor one, calling Reece. Are you on this channel?" This was obviously boss's voice. I activated the com-link and spoke out loud to the radio,

"Roger that, Interceptor one; you have Reece."

"What are you doing with one of my ships?!" He didn't sound very happy, "How did you even get off the Mark II?"

"Kip let me go," I answered, "And I don't see why you're so worried about this ancient scrap heap. You should thank me for all the work I did just to get this tub off the ground." There was a moment's hesitation, but the voice soon returned, and it didn't sound as angry,

"You took THAT ship?! Jeez, kid; do you have a death wish or something? Listen, we're getting off this planet as soon as there's an opening in the zerg's offenses. I don't recommend that you take that ship, it probably couldn't survive a single attack. If you want to come with us, you'll have to meet us here at the rebel compound before-"

"Wait!" I interrupted, "I have no idea where that is, and the only thing I have to get around with is this brochure of the capitol I picked up earlier."

"The capitol?!" Boss stammered, "When you screw up, you do it right, don't you, kid? Alright, what does the brochure say? Is there a landmark at the edge of the city that you can find?"

I ignored the offenses and looked over the brochure once more before replying,

"The Tarsonis Defense Memorial is set on northern fringe of the capital borders; it's the farthest thing on the map."

"Then that'll have to do. We'll meet you there in three hours. Don't be late, Reece, you'll only get one shot at this, and then you're on your own."

"Rodger that," I sighed and shut the radio off. I still couldn't believe how quickly everything had changed again. How could the zerg travel and multiply so fast and still be nothing more than mutated beasts? I was about to start the ships engines when screams broke out. The civilians I could see through the windshield were in a mad panic. They yelled and pointed, running from something up the street. I opened the pilots hatch, which happened to be on the same side, and stuck my head out to get a better look. With the door open, the sounds of the chaos intensified, and I could hear the city's emergency sirens and distant explosions. A faint roar from the sky caught my attention and I looked up to find flocks of mutalisks soaring high over the tops of the buildings. Without warning, they began raining fiery glave wurms down on the city. At first they targeted small commuter crafts that tried to flee, sending them reeling to the street in heaps of flaming wreckage. I shut the hatch again and sat in the pilots chair in shock for a moment, but when a holoscreen repair vessel crashed to the pavement so close to my ship that pieces of flying debris rained on the windshield, I shook my head and kicked the door open again, jumping out to the ground. So far, the zerg's ground forces apparently hadn't arrived yet; traveling on foot amongst the buildings seemed much safer than attempting to fly.

I landed the ship facing east, so finding north wasn't a problem. The streets where practically deserted at this point and I constantly had to watch my surroundings for falling debris from the mutalisk's systematic air raids. Twice I had to take cover in an alley as a flock flew over, pummeling the buildings, sending huge pieces of smoldering concrete and steel crashing to the ground. Smoking wreckage already littered the streets and I couldn't help feeling more and more defenseless; I couldn't recall a time when I felt more alone. Overlords floated low between the buildings like ghostly blimps that watched your every movement. For a while, the engines of fighter crafts could be heard overhead as the Capitol's air defense tried to fight the raining zerg, but soon they faded and only the sound of destruction could be heard. I began running, I couldn't help my fear as resonating explosions and thuds that could be heard throughout the city. As the blocks went by, I found that some buildings had already toppled. Other than being terrified, the trek to the memorial had been relatively safe thus far, until the swarm of ground forces arrived.

I was about a dozen city blocks from where I left my ship when the sound began. It was a static noise that started out far away at first, but moved like a fog, until it sounded like it was only a few streets over. Other noises grew with it; distance screams explosions echoed from the sides of the buildings. Despite my fear, I began slowing down. I was totally winded from running so long, I had to stop, but that's when they finally appeared. While leaning against the cement side of an apartment building, a series of sharp growls arose from behind me. I turned around and found a pack of zerglings emerging from a side street with an overlord floating along above them. They all seemed to spot me instantly and the zerglings took off, leaping up the street after me as I stumbled into the closest alley. Still out of breath and panting heavily, my lead on the quick-footed fiends was closing to a few seconds. I had to stop, there was no way to outrun them. I looked around with the split second of time I had left and saw a ray of hope.

There was a dumpster to my right with a fire escape ladder hanging low over it. I jumped at the side door and pulled myself onto the steel lid just as a zergling leapt for me and crashed into the steel plating of the dumpster. The impact nearly knocked me down again, but I stood up without a second look at the zerglings and dove for the ladder that hung in the center of the alley. One hand all but missed completely but the other slapped home against the bottom rung of the ladder. After a wild swing, I hung there for a second as the mob of zerglings surged beneath my swaying feet. I had to pull my legs up as one of the them made a dive for me. It barely missed, sailing just below. Grunting with the effort, I managed to pull myself up to the next rung and get my feet up. Another zergling came flying through the air at me, and I had to hug the ladder to keep from being tackled by its open, hungry claws this time. I began climbing, but one of the zerglings wised up, diving directly for the ladder. The one hundred-pound brown missile slammed into the opposite side of the ladder and it came crashing off the fire escape with a clatter of metal. The zerglings snarled in triumph as I fell to the cement on my back, lunging in after me. The fact that the ladder and first zergling fell on top of me saved my life.

Despite nearly blacking out from the impact the back of my head took and having the wind knocked out of me, for a few precious seconds, the group's wild, frenzied swings where hampered by the mangled steel ladder and the body of their dazed brethren that still pinned me down. I didn't kick or scream, I simply closed my eyes and waited for the rain of hurtful blades to rip me apart. But, instead of the stinging pain of death, something much different came to me. There arose a fierce, yet wonderfully familiar snarl that could be heard above those of the zerglings, accompanied by the telepathic voice of a friend,

"Sorry I'm late, Reece!"

I still couldn't believe what I heard, even when a swift, timely scythe swept through the carpet of zerglings that covered me. The frenzied creatures practically screamed as the blade parted limbs and sent a few of the enemies sailing against the brick wall of the alley. Despite the dark, warm blood that splattered on me from the attack, I could see daylight again and the zerglings suddenly darted away from me. After rolling the ladder and the carcass of a dead zergling aside, I was able to sit up and see what happened. The zerglings had all abandoned me to fight an aggressive, new enemy. All nine zerglings seemed to leap for the hydralisk at once, but it was ready for them.

Making wide, horizontal swings with both scythes, the powerful creature repelled all but two of the flying enemies. Out of the ones sent reeling back to the pavement, six of them got up again. Bane, as it had to be by now, although it seemed impossible, slashed one of the zerglings off that made it and impaled the other with his free blade before slinging the screeching foe at it's charging brethren. The huge projectile collided with one of the zergling like a runaway train, killing them both when three of the enemies leapt in unison once more, with claws outstretched, but the hydralisk wasn't there to receive the missiles. Bane lunged aside and the zerglings met only the side of the building before a mighty swing of both scythes smashed two of them completely through the brick wall. The third one, still half in a daze, was impaled instantly as Bane lunged forward with one blade. The hydralisk hefted the enemy off the ground and swung it overhead over-head in an arch, just in time to crush a final zergling that dove from behind.

In less than forty seconds, all but one zergling lay slain on the pavement. The last enemy crouched for one more attack as the hydralisk sidled towards me. When the zergling leapt, Bane turned with one scythe, expertly smashing the creature out of the air as it flew near. It screeched in pain as it rocketed back to the ground, skipping twice before coming to a stop.

"Bane?" I asked in astonishment, standing up, "How did you get off Korhal?! How did you find me?"

The hydralisk was bleeding in two spots where the leaping enemies made it through his defenses, but other than that, Bane was none the worse for wear as he quickly answered both my questions,

"An old friend intervened on my behalf. Finding you wasn't going to be so easy until the zerg arrived. Though the over mind may not be able to retain direct control over me, I am still a cerebrate," Bane paused to gesture towards the dead zergling with one scythe,

"I can see what they see."

"I'll take your word for it," I couldn't help smiling, "But I've never been so glad to see you! We've got to get out of here!"

Bane paused for a moment, staring at me.

"What is it?" I asked, "Do I have something on my face?"

"Odd," my friend answered at last, "I never saw any merchandising royalties from those.."

"What?" I said again, even more confused. Bane shook his head,

"Never mind; you are right. We must escape this place immediately."

"My thoughts exactly," I agreed, "There's a ship that's supposed to pick me up on the northern end of the city. I'm sure they'll take the both of us, if we can make it in time."

"They will or they'll share our fate," the hydralisk snarled, "Let's go."

Most grateful to have my ten-foot, bullet proof protector back, I obediently followed the hydralisk into one of the alleys that branched off from the one we met in. It was a long, unbroken hallway of brick that lead to the street again far ahead. I could still hear distant explosions, and the terrifying roars of the zerg army.

"How many zerg are there, Bane? Where are they?" I asked, one step behind the hydralisk.

"Hundreds of them; thousands," my friend growled, "They're all around us, and still raining onto the planet. The Over Mind seeks to destroy your Terran worlds before moving on to assimilate the Protoss."

"Where are Tarsonis's defenses?" I couldn't stop the questions, there where so many, "Why haven't there been any troops protecting the people in the city?"

We were nearly halfway down the long, cement and brick path before Bane gave an answer,

"The Terran defenders and their machines haven't been able to penetrate the zerg's invasion force. They are fighting vain battles at certain points around the perimeter of the city.

"What happens if-" I began another question, but my friend suddenly stopped and interrupted me in mid sentence,

"Silence!" Bane snarled, "They're close!"

I stood perfectly still, but it seemed to be of no use. A barrage of sharp growls and screeches echoed up from both sides of the alley. Instead of finding just ten zerglings this time, dozens of them poured into our alley from both ends. They were closing on us at an incredible speed. I looked to my friend, knowing that he couldn't fight them all. The hydralisk returned my stare with its unchanging, armored face and maw of jagged teeth before pushing me aside with the blunt side of one blade and diving at the brick wall of the alley with both scythes.

The masonry work practically exploded out of Bane's path as he went completely through the wall, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the building. I didn't hesitate, jumping through the new exit and jogging to catch up with the unreal beast. The inside of the building was dim and muggy, and the floor was lined with rows of machinery in a sort of assembly line fashion, obscuring the surroundings as Bane led me further into the darkness.

"I can barely see!" I complained, beginning to panic again. Short growls and the sound of many clawed feet on pavement began filling the building.

"Fear not, mortal," Bane assured me with a snarl of his own, "We've nearly reached the other side. There's a door ahead; if you could open it normally, it may buy us time instead of leaving an open path for the zerglings to follow."

Bane led me around one final corner and stopped in the red glow of an exit sign. I ran ahead, shoving the door open by the push handle. It led to a paved lot where shipments apparently came to and from the factory. The hydralisk followed, taking only a moment to squeeze through the eight foot door frame, and I closed the exit again. Surprisingly, there weren't many zerg to be seen on the ground in our area, but they could still be heard on different streets, and inside the building behind us.

"There has to be a safer way to travel across this place," Bane suddenly snarled, "There are far too many zerg, and more arrive every moment. You know these Terran cities much better than I, Reece. If you are to survive, I need your help; think!"

I nodded and looked around, racking my brain for some way to travel without being seen. At last, the answer came from the wide, empty street in front of us.

"I have an idea," I announced quickly, before running out into the open roadway. The hydralisk bounded after me as I came to a stop in front of a steel man-hole cover in the road. I couldn't possibly hope to move the huge circle of metal myself, but Bane got the idea immediately. The hydralisk jabbed one scythe point through the edge of the steel lid and effortlessly flipped it out of the way with one quick motion. I jumped onto the rusted, slimy rungs of a ladder built into the side of the cement tunnel and began climbing down into the darkness. It became pitch black in only a few seconds; I couldn't even see my own hands in front of my face, but, after a relatively short descent, my boots found the damp cement floor and I took a few blind steps away from the ladder. In a moment, The hydralisk plummeted into the sewer with me, hitting the ground with the heavy thud of carapace on pavement.

"Can you tell which way is north down here?" I asked hopefully. A snarl from the darkness accompanied the quick telepathic response,

"As long as so many swarms dwell in the city, yes."

Bane began to take the lead again when I spoke up once more,

"Wait, I can't see a thing down here!"

I could hear the hydralisk come to a stop somewhere ahead of me, but there was a moment of silence before Bane responded,

"This will be a long path, I cannot lead you by scythe the entire way," my friend growled, "But there is an alternative."

"What's the alternative?" I asked. My mind began to grow vaguely numb, as it does when Bane speaks telepathically, but this time, there were no words. Without warning, my senses of hearing and touch began to flicker. The thought of losing control of my body scared me, and I shook my head, and the numbing feeling vanished.

"Fear not, Reece." My friend assured me, "Sharing my mind with yours is the only way you can see in the darkness."

I nodded, clearing my thoughts, and the numb feeling came again. At first, it seemed I was losing control of my body again, but it was always barely there. Without warning, new senses of sight and hearing bombarded my mind, creating an oddly lit view of the sewer around me. The colors where somewhat inverted, but it made every crack and turn in the terrain visible. The little stream of dirty water that ran down the center of the cement tunnel was like a buffeting static; yet, tiny sounds could still picked up; the rhythmic thud of my own pulse could be heard clearly.

"Is this what you see?" I asked in astonishment, "This is incredible!"

"Indeed," my friend answered, causing the mental picture to shimmer briefly. It was odd seeing myself through the extraordinary eyes of the hydralisk. I seemed so small and puny; being shorter than Bane by more than half.

"Go ahead," Bane said with a quiet growl, "I'll give you directions and lend you my mind. You should be able to see perfectly."

Watching myself navigate the labyrinth of tunnels and sewers in third person with the senses of a hydralisk was easily the strangest occurrence of my life at the time, but actually walking while still maintaining a grip on the mental image was more difficult than I expected. Bane said, at one point, that the problems where centered around the fact that I have a free will. However, I got the hang of it after about ten minutes of tripping, or fumbling into a wall when I should have turned. The sudden movement always caused me to lose the image altogether and I was enveloped in the darkness of my own Terran eyesight and dull hearing until Bane was able to focus the senses on my mind again.

Other than seeing the occasional rat, it was an hour-long, uneventful trek through a stinking sewer, to say the least, but at least there were no zerg to be found other than Bane. We came across two places where metal bars blocked the tunnel, but the hydralisk made quick work of the barricades. Shortly after the second set of bars, my friend spoke up,

"This next exit is the most northerly one in the city, we should return to the surface now."

Using one last glimpse of Bane's sight, I found the ladder leading up to another opening to the street. Groping for the rusted metal rungs caused the mental image to fail, but my fingers ran across it in the darkness. I was about to begin climbing when I remembered something,

"You'll have to go first," I said quickly, "I can't move the man hole cover." The thought of being alone in the pitch-black sewer was unnerving, but it was the only way. While keeping one hand on the ladder, I stepped aside as much as I could and Bane stepped up.

"Guard your eyes," my friend warned before getting a slight jump start into the tunnel. I looked away and the awful sound of scythe scraping and clawing cement tore at my ears as the hydralisk climbed up the to the top of the sewer somehow and hammered the metal lid away with the same ease. In my rush to see daylight again, I shot up the ladder and out of the darkness after my friend.

To my surprise, the street appeared to be deserted once again as I reached ground level. The light bombarded my eyes, even though some cloud cover was gathering. Bane offered me a scythe and I grabbed the blunt edge of it with both hands. The hydralisk effortlessly hoisted me out of the tunnel and me lowered me to the pavement again.

"Where is the meeting place?" Bane asked with an urgent snarl, "Our window is brief; the swarms will return to this area again."

"I'm not quite sure," I confessed, pulling the crumpled Tarsonis brochure out of my pocket for another look. According to the map, and the lifeless neon sign on a tiny store amongst many others on one side of the street, we where next to the Tourist Information Center.

"We're not far," I reported optimistically, "It's only a few blocks away."

The Defense Memorial was a huge plot of grass; fenced in with iron works and trees, all set in complete contrast to the city that surrounded it.

"What kind of sad place is this?" Bane asked as we approached the closed main gates.

"I don't know. I've never been to a place like this before." I answered blankly. Rows of carved stones set in the grass were visible between the tall bars of the iron gate as the hydralisk wrenched a wide opening between two of them with both scythes.

"What now?" Bane snarled after I stepped through the gate to get a better look around. The entire area was the same; a few city blocks of grass and a handful of scattered trees was the only real scenery that made up the Defense Memorial other than the endless rows of upright stones and a single, lonely sidewalk that ran up the center of it all to a big statue in the middle.

"We must be a little early. Maybe it would be best to find a safe spot to wait on the ship," I said hopefully, taking the lead. I could tell Bane wanted to say something else, but my friend held his words and followed me further into the memorial. Only a few moments into our trek up the only path available, the hydralisk spoke up without warning,

"These stones," Bane said with a tone of surprise and awe, "They mark the resting places of many of your species. There are hundreds of them here."

"Creepy!" I exclaimed as the statue in the distance grew closer and closer, "I wish those guys would hurry up with that ship, we've got to get out of here! I don't know how long you've on the planet, but I've had just about enough of Tarsonis for one day."

When my friend didn't respond and the sound of the hydralisk following me faded, I turned around.

"Bane?" I asked in confusion. The hydralisk had left the sidewalk, wandering away from me, into the isles of head stones. I began jogging back in the other direction to catch up with Bane as he came to a stop, staring at the inscriptions on a stone just like any other in its row.

"What's wrong with you?" I panted, slowing down to stand next to the hydralisk. Once again, Bane didn't answer. The silence was getting to me, the distant thud and roar of the swarms even seemed to be still and waiting for a response.

"Bane?!" I said again, but louder as I waved a hand back and forth in the hydralisk's view. A few more agonizing seconds passed, but my friend said something at last,

"At first, nothing truly made sense to me…"

"Come again," I interrupted in spite of myself, but I think Bane was beginning to snap out of it.

"It's all becoming clear now, yet…something is still amiss…"

I didn't say anything this time, waiting for something to end my confusion, too. At last, Bane acknowledged that I was standing there,

"Reece," Came the telepathic words with a short growl, "Can you…read the inscriptions written here?"

"Yeah, sure." I piped, leaning forward to get a better look at the weather beaten carvings on the stone.

"Here lies Charley Bennit Daniels," I began reading slowly out loud for Bane, "First Lieutenant Specialist of the Third Defense Garrison." There were more words, but my friend spoke up suddenly,

"I remember it now…I remember all of it," the hydralisk snarled weakly, "I'm so sorry…"

At last, it struck me. For the first and only time in my life, Bane showed a new emotion that I didn't know a hydralisk could possess; sorrow. All I could do was stand and listen to my friend's sad words as they slowly came between the pauses,

"I know now…I know why you didn't want me to go…" the mournful psionic voice was barely audible,

"Please forgive me…my friend…" Bane reached out slowly with one scythe, but never quite touched the mossy tomb stone. The silence returned once more, but those were awful, stinging moments that hurt even more than the words themselves.

The hydralisk stood motionless like that for what seemed like ages, and a gusting wind was picking up from the brewing storm. The zerg could be heard again as well, but they were louder this time, as if they were drawing nearer. I could feel the danger in the air, but I didn't know what to say to my devastated friend.

"Bane!" I pleaded, "We've got to go, the zerg are coming!"

Finally, the hydralisk turned to me, but Bane's next words weren't the ones I wanted to hear,

"You must go," my friend said solemnly, "I shall remain here for a while longer."

"But the ship!" I argued, but Bane wasn't negotiating his decision.

"The over mind has now lost all influence over my mind, and I've become a greater threat than ever. The ship will not come; the entirety of the swarms are closing on our location. Rescue would be impossible."

"You can't be so sure!" I yelled back, even though I knew my friend was right. The distant static of the swarms destroying the cities interior was growing into volleys of distinct roars that echoed over the memorial grounds.

"Bane," I said again, but sternly this time, "I won't leave you to die again!"

My friend wasn't phased by the words, but the hydralisk reassured me with renewed growl,

"Fear not, I shall return to you."

Without warning, a great crash of metal could be heard and I turned around. The zerg had arrived. Trampling over the iron fencing at the entrance of the memorial, countless numbers of zerglings and hydralisks poured into view. They tore over the grassy field of stones toward us by the dozens and the scream of mutalisks could be heard before they came soaring low over the trees lining the edge of the memorial. They were closing the distance to seconds now as I warily tried to speak to my friend one last time,

"Bane?!" I yelled. The hydralisk merely stood and faced the swarms with me, and then I knew. Bane would not leave the grave.

"Remember your promise!" I screamed, at last, above the roar of the charging brood and sprinted away from my friend without looking back.

I hated Bane for what he was about to do, but I couldn't go any further as I reached the tall statue of a planet on a podium in the center of the memorial. Leaning against the cement sculpture to catch my breath and my bearings, I turned and watched the event unfold before my eyes. The zerglings were the first to reach Bane, but, oddly, he didn't make a move to stop them as a group dove, tackling their target to the ground. Blood could be seen flying in distance sprays and mists as the numbers of zergling swarmed on the hydralisk. The mutalisks began circling overhead, pelting the growing mass of screeching groundlings with their glave wurms in an attempt to hit the lone enemy. Zerglings flew with the violent explosions of the projectiles, but their rampage wouldn't stop until it achieved its inevitable ends, and the zerglings were soon replaced by the hydralisk's that tore their smaller brethren aside to reach my friend.

Just as quickly as their attack began, the whole of the swarms seemed to sigh, snapping out of their uncontrollable fury. It was done.

"No…" I sobbed quietly, but not in fear of my own life, as a number of the zerg now charged in my direction, but for the loss of my friend. I thought of just standing there, waiting for the claws of the uncountable brood to cut me down, but Bane wanted me to run; he said that he would come back for me. As if on their own accord, my legs began turning beneath me once more, and the rest of my body followed.

The opposite end of the memorial loomed ahead of me with it's tall, unclimbable fencing as the roaring swarms closed in on me again. Crumbling tomb stones in their path, the brood of zerglings and hydralisks had me cornered, there was no point in running the last ten yards to the iron bars of the memorial's border. I turned, standing to face the blades of death at last. Just as with Bane, the zerglings were the fastest of the group, and they took the lead over the hydralisks, second only to the mutalisks that soared over them. I couldn't help closing my eyes as the zergling's hungry blades and the great, red wings of the mutalisks took on detail.

Suddenly, there came a rush of wind and something hit me like a train, taking hold of my body with a huge set of jagged jaws, gripping me so tight that whatever breath was left after the impact was squeezed from my lungs. The roar of the swarms reached a new pitch as I opened my eyes and found them swirling away below me. Despite the pain of the pointed teeth that held me fast, I turned up and saw the whirling red wings of a mutalisk laboring furiously. Regaining, my senses, I suddenly panicked in fear of being eaten, pounding my fists on the rocky carapace of the creature that carried me into the sky. Wind buffeted my hair around, obscuring my view as the beast hauled itself further into the air with me along for the ride. My height above the ground quickly became terrifying, surpassed only by the confusion as to why the mutalisk hadn't bitten me in half or swallowed me whole yet and I looked back, noticing the flying creature's outraged brethren in pursuit of the prize.

"I would have rather been torn to pieces by the zerglings!" I thought fleetingly as the mutalisk carried me higher still.

"Is that so?" A telepathic message intruded my mind. My heart leapt; the voice was twisted and mutated, yet so familiar, but at the same time, I didn't believe it to be true.

"Bane?!" I yelled over our the rhythmic rush of the great red wings and the screeching enemies on our trail.

"Hold on!" came the odd voice once again as the mutalisk suddenly reeled in the air, releasing its grip on me with its jaws. I screamed as I was thrown into the empty air and the world spun as I began plummeting towards the rooftops far below. Suddenly, the mutalisk was back again, meeting me at a different angle. The wind was knocked from my lungs once more as I collided with the carapace of the creatures back in mid-air, but my hands found a groove between the rocky plating and I clung between the mutalisk's wings like dirty laundry as it leveled out again. For a precious moment, the loping ride settled and I was able to get a better grip with both hands. Without warning Bane whirled again, changing directions as our pursuers launched a volley of glave wurms at us. With wings swept back, the mutalisk plummeted between one of the buildings, using gravity to outrun the projectiles before sweeping low over the pavement. It was a petrifying maneuver, but the other mutalisks were still on us. Windows of the buildings blazed by as Bane banked hard, turning down the street's path between the sky scrapers. Huge throngs of hydralisks and zerglings filled the next street, and volleys of green spines were launched at us as we soared overhead. I could hear the projectiles pocking Bane's carapace on the bottom side, but his wings kept pumping furiously, carrying us over the ravaging brood.

With warning, the fliers in pursuit screamed behind us, releasing another blast of their glave wurms. One of the fiery attacks flashed just below Bane's left wing before smashing into a building and exploding. The mutalisk reeled to the right, avoiding the flames and debris erupting in our path, but the enemies only drew closer.

"We cannot lose them this way!" Came Bane's fleeting telepathic voice, "Hold on! We're going up!"

I dug my hands further under the plate of carapace that I clung to behind the wings of the mutalisk as it suddenly changed directions again with a powerful thrust of its wings. The other fliers chased us still, as we spiraled into the air, above the buildings again. I began getting dizzy as the swirling rooftops grew farther and farther away. The ground seemed so far away, the way it did when I first came here with that ancient little ship. This was a much different flying experience. Clinging for dear life with the wind tearing at me, the unreal beast, with its massive, powerful wings, hauling us ever further above the city. It was easily the single most terrifying, yet most exhilarating event of my life.

"They're still with us!" I yelled, leaning up for a quick glance backwards. The view of the spiraling planet below and the pursuing mutalisks was practically nauseating.

"We can lose them in the clouds!" Came Bane's telepathic response with a thundering roar. Indeed, the white and grey canopy seemed just ahead, but I couldn't shake the feeling of nausea that grew rapidly with every second of climbing.

"Bane," I tried to yell, surprised at how weak my own voice sounded, "Something's not right!"

As we reached the white fluff and entered the bottom side, the mutalisks in pursuit could be heard roaring in frustration as they followed us into our cover. I could not longer see Bane's wings through the thick clouds, but, for no reason, my breath left me, and I began panting. My whole body grew instantly numb and sudden exhaustion wracked my bones.

"Reece?!" Came the faint psionic voice, shrouded in concern, "Hold on!"

It was too late. I can vaguely recall my hand slipping from its grip on the carapace. At last, I remembered, as I was blown off the mutalisk and away like a leaf on a gale, about the air pressure. That's why I was passing out, the air pressure was too low.

The final thing I remember before everything went totally black was the incredible roar of the air rushing by me and the mutalisk high above reeling back to the planet in pursuit.

To Be Continued…


	15. Bane 15: Escape from Tarsonis

For a few precious moments, everything was finally still and calm. Numbing darkness was everywhere, and all I could think of was the fact that, in this bleak existence, my head wasn't pounding and my back didn't ache due to my fall to the concrete from a fire escape ladder. The zerg where gone, the city was a distant memory, and I nearly felt like I was floating. Then, as the world suddenly came roaring back with an insane rush of air and the sound of screeching mutalisks, I realized that my original assumption wasn't right at all. I was falling.

At first, I was lost in sub-vertigo until my vision returned, but when it did, I completely panicked; screaming like there was no tomorrow as the city not so far below steadily took on detail. I was still at an amazing height, and, in the waning evening light that wasn't yet blocked by the building storm overhead, the city could be seen for miles one on side; stretching out endlessly before me and growing closer with every moment. At last, my lungs ran out of breath and I involuntarily looked straight down, and what I saw started the panic anew. The wings of mutalisks and some other smaller flying creatures were visible coursing over the street below in a flock, when they seemed to notice me plummeting down to meet them. The mutalisk's spun from their flight paths, beginning their elevating spirals, but the smaller creatures, somehow flying without the aid of wings, practically turned on the spot and streaked straight up towards me, drastically closing the distance and outrunning their larger brethren. I could do nothing to stop them except vainly hold my arms up in front of my face when, without warning, a massive winged beast shot by me on the left, nearly making me spin with the new torrent of wind in it's wake.

"Bane!" I yelled triumphantly, but my words were lost in the constant rush of air as the mutalisk slowed its descent, matching my falling speed just ahead. A pair of the small flyers, that were now close enough to be identified as scourge, were only seconds away. Without warning, Bane roared, launching a fiery, screeching projectile at the enemies that had almost reached us. The ball of acid and flame found its target with a crackling explosion that blotted out everything below. I covered my face again as I fell through the cloud of smoke and fire that, had not it been for Bane, would have been the deadly impact of a scourge. The chaos around me cleared as instantly as it came, revealing the city to be unnervingly closer, and the rest of the fliers to be nearly on top of us. My brave friend fired twice more, sending two more suicide bombers tumbling back to the street below, but the final one burst through the flames, apparently coming just for me. There was no time for another shot; Bane reeled across my plane of vision, careening into the scourge's path with a single, mighty thrust of his wings. The impact wracked the mutalisk's body and the ensuing blast all but hid it from view completely. I could practically feel the pain in the strained roar from my airborne protector as it practically came to a stop in mid-air.

I shot just past the tumbling wings of my friend, narrowly avoiding getting hit by them in passing. I looked up, and, despite growing more and more distant again, Bane seemed to be recovering, but it wasn't fast enough. The tall structures and the street loomed in size, filling my field of vision. Then, I fell through the rising flock of mutalisks.

They shifted and turned as I drew near, the closest ones seeming content in merely getting out of my way, but I could hear them roaring all around me, launching deadly glave wurms at their tiny falling target. The fiery balls of death scorched in from all directions, leaving trails of suffocating smoke in their paths as they coursed by; hitting buidlings and even other fliers. For the first and only time, I was glad that I was dropping out of the sky; at least my speed was making the projectiles remarkably inaccurate.

Suddenly, everything grew quiet, save for the roaring wind of my fall. The mutalisks faded away rapidly, rising out of focus above and the fear of falling returned ten fold as the tops of buildings rose up on both sides, cutting my view of the area around me to an ever decreasing slit of clouded sky. The street below exploded in terrifying detail as the windows flickered by in fast forward. An instant, painless death awaited me only seconds away now, yet my pulse raced so hard that it felt as if my chest would burst.

At long last, my only chance to live came soaring back once more on its swift, red wings. I heard the roar of a single mutalisk and looked skyward to see Bane arching down between the buildings. With wings swept back, the creature rushed to meet me in midair, knocking the wind from my lungs as I was flattened against the mutalisk's backside. Despite the impact, I held onto a groove in the monster's carapace for all I was worth as it unfurled it's great wings once again and caught the last bit of air before we crashed to the pavement.

The force of the astounding change in direction nearly tore me away, but one hand held firm as we swooped so low over the street that I could have read traffic signs if they weren't going by in streaking blurs of color. My heart still raced furiously, aching with the strain as I shut my eyes tight and clung to the fleeting creature's armored shell with everything I had.

"Calm yourself, mortal!" My friend's psionic voice echoed into my thoughts, "You'll not meet your end this day!"

The voice was twisted in an odd way that seemed to make it reverberate more than it used to, yet, at its core, it was still the same alien consciousness that I had come to know and trust. The words brought with them a powerful sense of serenity, and I found the courage to release my bear-hug on the Mutalisk's carapace long enough lean up some and look around.

With wings pumping hard, Bane hauled me back into the air, and the menacing sight of the deadly pavement finally began retreating below. To my surprise, a quick glance back revealed no zerg in pursuit; the fliers had actually abandoned us and returned to their flock. I turned around again to find a huge building capping the end of the street, but with an almost lazy dip of the right wing, the mutalisk banked the tight corner with ease, leveling out again as the next empty roadway stretched out before us. Dark columns of smoke rose from the bases of the businesses and apartment buildings, trying to suffocate me as we passed through them.

"Where are all the zerg?" I had to yell over the rhythmic rush of air from Bane's wings as the windows and stonework washed by on both sides, "And what about the ones we fell through?"

"When forced to chose between following through with a successful strike on the defenses of this city and the pursuit of an enemy one cannot kill, the Overmind has chosen the prior," my friend's telepathic voice was perfectly clear, cutting right through the noise around me,

"The zerg are gathering for a final strike against the remaining Terran defenses. We must leave this place while the chance is still ours."

"My thought's exactly; let's blow this joint!" I yelled again as the buildings that still stood quickly began to get shorter and wider. We appeared to be flying over the industrial edge of the city, and, as Bane regained more of the lost altitude, I could see all around once again. A dark, shifting cloud, made of a mixture of smoke and swarming zerg fliers, hung above the center of the city behind us. As I watched over one shoulder, I could just barely make out the continuous flocks of reinforcements still joining them from somewhere in the dark evening sky. The capitol, itself, seemed to be in total distress; it's bright lights weren't shining as night fell. Only the multitude of fires replaced them now, creating spots of orange glow in the smoke that was beginning to blanket the once-proud skyline in a suffocating fog. Finally, I turned away; unable to look at the disturbing sight any longer.

When I did so, I was shocked by the distance Bane had covered already. The city before us was suddenly cut short by a border of trees, marking the end of the capitol and the start of the undeveloped forest beyond. I should have felt safer now that we were getting away from the zerg, but something in my instincts told me otherwise, and I continued clutching wearily to Bane's carapace with both hands. After only a moment's time, the new reason for my unrest became apparent.

There appeared a group of objects on the horizon, hanging low over the trees and getting closer with every passing second. Their formation was far too organized to be a flock of zerg fliers, and the roar of jet engines suddenly became audible over the rush of the passing air. Bane seemed to notice them as well,

"Terran aircraft," the voice echoed through my mind again, "Too many of them-We must seek cover!"

The mutalisk immediately began losing altitude again, and the tree tops loomed dangerously close as we sped over them.

"You've got to be joking!" I yelled again, but it was too late. Rearing back with a mighty thrust of both wings, Bane jolted to a near stop in mid-air. The sudden loss of speed made it impossible to stay airborne, and we dropped through the leafy canopy below like a stone.

Briefly, green consumed my vision as the branches bombarded me. Tree limbs snapped and cracked, falling with us as Bane used his wings, as best he could in the confined space, to slow his landing. One hand slipped and I fell against the mutalisk's carapace as it hit the dirt with a heavy thud, using it's snake-like body to catch itself and stand, much like a hydralisk's tail, only bigger and backwards.

"Are you alright, Reece?" Came Bane's concerned words. I shook my head and gazed up at the hole we made in the tree tops before answering,

"Yeah, sure; never been better," I groaned, "I hope this works."

The sound of multiple wraith engines grew louder and louder until the ships themselves finally began roaring overhead in streaks of brightly colored metal. I lost count of the fighters that flew by my small window in the trees, but the roar of jets continued even after the fleet passed. As I watched, a pair of wraith fighters could be seen now and again through small openings in the trees. They appeared to be looking for us, hovering just over the treetops.

"It's no use!" I bellowed to no avail against the wailing turbines overhead, "They've got infrared sensors on those things!"

As if on cue, the charging of laser batteries could be heard briefly before bursts of hot, red energy tore through the foliage. Bane leapt into the air while the swift beams of death punished the forest around us.

The mutalisk exploded from the trees with its great wings outspread while I held onto it's back for dear life. The wraith's immediately turned to give chase, their engines screaming as they fought to match our airspeed. I spared the chance for a quick glance back and found our enemies to be nearly on top of us already.

"They're closing, real fast!" I warned, but it did nothing to stop the jet's weapons from chattering once more, launching another volley of their bright, deadly lasers at us in pursuit.

"Hold on!" Bane's telepathic plea roared as the mutalisk barrel-rolled to the left. The world spun as I struggled to keep my handhold. Just when my I thought I was about to lose my grip, everything stopped again and Bane veered towards the ground, gaining speed. Despite being incredibly dizzy from the stomach-churning maneuver, I had enough sense to be surprised that we were soaring low over a wide, rocky river, following it's path through the trees. The red beams of energy pelted the stream around us, creating geysers of water and steam as Bane swerved right and left to dodge the attacks. Without warning, a new sound could be heard; the lead ship had launched a pair of it's Gemini missiles. I looked back again to find the high-end projectiles rocketing towards us when everything suddenly fell.

The stream came to an abrupt end in the form of a water fall, and Bane dove down the face of it. Only a split-second later, the missiles crashed into the edge of the falls, exploding on the rocks and sending a cloud of mist raining down on us as the mutalisk unfurled it's wings and caught the air again before we met the turbulent water below. Here, the river had cut a deep canyon out of the rock and it made an abrupt turn just ahead, but the wraith's screamed into the gorge right behind us, choking our airspace with their lasers while they closed in once more. Bane fought to reach the curve in the river and the safety of the canyon walls, veering and diving to avoid the enemy fire, but we were too late. One of the wraiths managed to launch another set of the heat-seeking missiles as the mutalisk banked for the hair-pin turn. The wraiths' engines screeched as they pulled up hard, abandoning the chase due to the impassable terrain, but the rockets were still on our trail, tearing through the air to us at an immeasurable rate. It was impossible for Bane to dodge the projectiles again.

The mutalisk did the only thing it had the time left to do; and that was an abrupt, mid-air stall with a half twist, putting the bulk of Bane's body between me and the flying bombs. The explosion that ensued cut across all senses, consuming my hearing and blinding me with a brief, hot light, after which, I vaguely remember a vicious pain in my chest and plunging to the winding stream below. There came the massive splash of my friend crashing into the water somewhere beside me, then, everything went dark.

Cold. The chilling water seemed to be all around, even inside of me, starving my lungs of air. The suffocating feeling was as unforgiving as the rocky stream bed that pressed up against me and I could feel water rushing over my feet. Finally, complete consciousness came roaring back and I reflexively put my palms forward and pushed myself off the ground. I recall having enough bearing to realize that it was raining before the suffocating sensation followed me from my dream. I immediately became sick as the river water heaved its way back out of my lungs. Those long moments in the dark, hacking and coughing, were among the most painful of my life. With every movement, a searing hurt wracked my body from somewhere in my chest, tearing at my insides.

Finally, I was done, barely managing to drag my legs out of the water before collapsing to the rocks once more. I laid there in agony, still soaked from the river and half freezing from the pouring storm. At first, I could only draw the tiniest of breaths without disturbing the great ache further, but, over time, it seemed to ebb somewhat and I was finally able to think. I opened my eyes again, trying to see in the darkness. The only sound was the patter of rain against stone and that of the river running it's course somewhere behind me. Suddenly, I remembered what had happened; I remembered the zerg and the wraiths. I remembered my friend,

"Bane!" I yelled into the darkness in spite of myself, causing my ribs to scream with pain once more. I winched in agony, fighting a sob that tried to force its way up my throat,

"Bane!!" I said again, ignoring the fiery hurt it caused me. For a few terrifying moments, I really thought I was alone, until something shifted nearby,

"I am here...my friend..." Came the weak psionic voice, making my heart leap in my throat. I looked again, and luck was with me. A stem of lightning crackled across the clouded sky, illuminating my surroundings. In the brief flash, I miraculously found the crumpled form of the mutalisk washed up only a stones throw away. It couldn't have been more than a few paces, but getting to my feet and actually walking the short distance made me dizzy with pain, and I ended up stumbling to the ground a few feet short of the mutalisk. However, I could make out one battered wing and the glowing red eyes in the shadow.

"Reece..." the voice came again, "..You live.." Bane sounded as if a great weight was lifted from his mind, and the creature sighed deeply, releasing a ragged breath.

"Me?" I choked, slowly pulling myself into a sitting position next to the motionless creature in the rain, "I don't think I've been happier to see you; with the exception of your timely arrival earlier today in the alley."

I couldn't contain a laugh, and the sudden motion caused my ribs to throb again. When Bane didn't say anything, I began to get worried.

"How badly are you hurt?" I asked the still form. I had to wait a few seconds in silence before the voice came again,

"You needn't fear for my safety...only your survival matters."

I knew what Bane meant by those words, but I didn't say anything at first; doing my best to respect my friend's wishes. Before long, however, the questions came, as they always do,

"What were you talking about back in the memorial?" I said slowly, "Who was that person?"

To my surprise, this provoked an immediate response from the mutalisk,

"Charley," Bane began, struggling to keep his telepathic voice audible, "Was my first friend; with the aid of many others, we defeated the ravenous zerg and destroyed the Overmind long ago...The leader of the zerg itself, has been trying to keep these memories locked in my mind ever since, in attempt to prevent it from happening again. Though the...death of my friend has caused me the greatest pain I will ever know, it has freed me from the last of the Overmind's foul influence.."

"You're going to die again, aren't you?" I finally asked, quietly.

"I am sorry...my friend..." Bane began, but I interrupted,

"No!" I blurted out, almost yelling, "You're not the one who should be apologizing. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be going through this over and over."

"Fear not for me..." my friend repeated, "You have only to stay alive..."

"No Bane! Don't go yet!" I pleaded, causing my chest to tear at my senses once more, but I didn't care, "Don't leave me, yet!"

Without warning, the crippled mutalisk shifted again in the darkness, using its last strength to lift a torn, battered wing over my head, parting the rain that fell on me.

"...I'll stay..." The voice was growing weaker now, but the red eyes still flickered through the darkness, "...I'll stay...until you sleep. Rest now, I shall return for you..."

For the first time in my existence, I held fast to the pain and fought death as it drew near. However I tried, my vision had long since begun to waver, and now the other senses faded with it. Yet, even when all had become dark and numb, the mortal's life force was there, like a unfailing beacon in the fathomless void. By focusing on this energy, the effects of the corrupted cerebrate's covenant gradually became active once more, and the perceptions of another existence slowly claimed my thoughts...

I could hear the occasional, suppressed snarl of my brethren, the sound of clawed feet and carapace dragging through dried leaves, and the wind in the trees. Suddenly, the vision of a new reality bombarded my mind, along with the noises, and I found myself among the ranks of a brood. They were quietly making their way through the forest outlying the northern edge of the city that, only hours ago, Reece and I had flown overhead of.

The brood's secrecy was obvious. By the pictures taken from my brethren around me and the ever-watchful overlords floating a short distance ahead of the advancing army, I determined that these zerg were dispatched behind the Terran lines with a special purpose. This force was sent to break up the mortal ranks from the outside, allowing the waiting swarm of groundlings in the city to rampage free of the blockade with ease. Due to lack of other options, I traveled with my brethren for the moment, as not to draw their attention by leaving the formation; Even then I knew that my presence could be discovered at any time. If found, the Overmind would surely turn the entire detachment against me.

Only a short while into this trek, there came a telepathic shimmer that passed over the zerg around me like a swift gale through the forest. Terran's had been spotted by a pair of zerglings that were scouting ahead of the main force, and every member of the brood spontaneously became aware of the new presence.

I cleared my thoughts, allowing the images to flood my mind as well. This appeared to be a small group of lightly armed soldiers, probably sentry's themselves for the primary blockade. Suddenly, a number of the zerglings separated from the main group, disappearing from view as they funneled between the trees ahead. It would have been mere moments, then, before the unknown soldiers met their deaths, but if I allowed the brood to continue its advance undetected and attack with the element of surprise, the swarms in the city could break loose and the entire planet would be at the mercy of the Overmind. Even the remote canyon, where I left Reece, wouldn't be safe. I no longer had a choice; there was only one way to save the Terran blockade a while longer.

Slowly breaking formation until I was close to one of my tall, scythe-wielding look-alikes, I sealed my fate with one brutal swing of my left blade.

The hydralisk had only enough time to turn, locking its foggy, shallow eyes on mine an instant before scythe met carapace. The blow had all my weight behind it, and the blade slashed open a canyon of gore across the unsuspecting creature's armored skull.

While my first enemy spun and slumped to the dirt, the entire brood around me seemed to stop and roar in unison. In seconds, members of the outraged swarm were closing in from all directions; pouring between the trees and crashing through the brush with vengeful claws. An image of my flank was the first to flash through my thoughts, and I turned in time to throw my scythes in the path of a charging hydralisk. I slid back in the poor footing of the dried undergrowth as our blades clashed together and the momentum was absorbed, but with a powerful heave of my arms, I slung the offending scythes to one side and brought my own back hard, were they crashed across the open maw of my foe.

The hydralisk toppled over, yet, there was no chance of finishing it before the zerglings arrived. Swinging over and to the right, my scythe came down squarely on the racing, brown missile as I used images from the minds of my enemies to time the offensives against them. A split second after eliminating the first zergling, I could sense the next already in mid-leap at my other side. I spun with the same blade as before, bringing it up when I did, where it collided squarely with the airborne assailant and sent it reeling away before being caught and dropped by the leafy branches overhead.

Despite being grotesquely injured and bleeding profusely, the second hydralisk returned with both scythes outstretched, but more of my brethren joined it in the assault this time, lumbering through the thick foliage from every direction at once. One mistake now would surely spell defeat.

"...No one ever said that all battles are to be evenly matched."

Time practically ceased as San' Dreale's words surfaced from my memory with the zerg closing in, coursing around the trees like a flood of carapace and blades in slow motion.

"Well said, Templar," I thought, recalling the blocking techniques and counter attacks learned that day, while shifting to meet the brunt of the coming onslaught. Reality instantly seized hold once more and the outraged roar of the swarm returned with it. The gored hydralisk's high attack just cleaved the empty air as my timely dodge to the left rewarded me with an open shot at my foe's backside. The flailing beast was sent sprawling into the wide trunk of a great tree some distance away, but the maneuver had cost precious seconds, and I now faced a growing number of new enemies.

I slung my arms out to each side with all my strength, were they collided with the offending scythes of two fresh hydralisks. The creatures snarled a higher pitch as our blades clashed together, but I quickly found my movements arrested by my adversaries with more zerglings charging in from the front.

I lunged against the hold my enemies had on my blades. They were ready for my resistance, yet, I managed to pull the right scythe forward, bringing the struggling beast with it. Though the difference was minimal, the change in position was critical. By springing back in the other direction with the same arm, I took the hydralisk by surprise and my blade tore free, nearly flooring the offending creature when my scythe-joint collided with the under side of its jaw in passing

There was no time to free my other blade: the zerglings were practically on top of me. Snarling angrily, I brought the right scythe forward again in a wild swing that hammered my already-stunned brethren aside. With the path clear, I surged against the grip of the other hydralisk, jerking it into the path of the zerglings in mid-leap.

Following the crunch of carapace on carapace and the roar of the outraged beast, my sorely needed left blade was free at last. The agile, brown assassins that remained on the ground changed direction instantly, veering for my new position with claws outstretched. A pair of them practically careened into my waiting attack, but there was work for my blades on the opposite side once more. As I spun to meet the next threat, I do recall sensing the new foe in mid-air, but there was no time to react now.

Blotting my view as it instantly crashed head-on into my face, the zergling planted its curved, miniature scythes in the armored rim of my skull. The high impact practically plowed me to the ground as I was sent fumbling backwards, but this was the only opportunity the smaller, faster enemies needed. Dazed and temporarily blinded by the clinging zergling, it's brethren rushed on the chance and I was quickly hit again and again by members of the merciless brood until their hurtful scythes and the combined weight finally wrestled me to the forest floor. I thrashed and fought to stand again, but their painful blades were everywhere; stabbing and slashing to keep me down.

Then, without warning, the surrounding forest was suddenly illuminated as if it were midday. The intense lights seared my eyes, but I remember the explosion of gunfire and the outraged growls and squeals of the zerg clearly. When my vision returned, I found that the remainder of the brood had all but abandoned me in a vain suicide attack on the garrison of marines and their protective squad of goliaths. The sheets of flying metal and explosives launched by the mechanical weapons blasted a wide clearing through the underbrush and low branches, wearing down the smaller group of zerg before they could get close enough to do any damage at all. At last, the forest was quiet once more, save for the anxious shifting of so many booted feet in dry leaves and the lumbering rattle of the goliaths' engines.

I could only stand, to the best of my ability, facing the brunt of the marines' suit lights, weaving as I waited for their weapons to shred my already-shattered carapace. However, the hot led failed to fly.

After a few unsettling moments of near silence, the rush of adrenaline that had kept me alive in battle quickly began to subside and simply remaining upright became immensely difficult. The pain of my wounds came roaring into my thoughts, clouding my mind with the distress signals of a dying body.

The Terrans still made no move, either to finish me off or, to a less-likely extent, help, while I finally collapsed again, under my own weight. Everything grew instantly numb and consciousness sputtered into it's last, brief fits of awareness. The nameless soldiers who had appeared so suddenly were now all around; looking down at me with their bright lights and obnoxious squabbling and swears. Although the sounds were muffled, I felt threatened and vulnerable, but I couldn't have made the slightest effort to resist them if I wanted. My vision failed at last, relenting to the dark swirls of color that awaited.

Yet, before all traces of the world vanished completely, my fatigued mind picked up something strange about the Terrans who had gawked and clamored over my ruined form. Though it was brief, I could sense a familiar mental signature among them before everything turned silent and cold.

I don't know exactly when sleep came to me, but the borders of reality faded with Bane's last words. Some part of my mind suddenly shut down, leaving my pain stricken body somewhere in that desolate canyon. Ugly shadows twisted across my field of view, signaling the start of a nightmare; like the ones I had before I met Bane. However, this one was to be different...

...The angry tormentors from before were back again, but now they had a definite form. They were the zerg, yet there was something different about them that I couldn't place. Exact detail was difficult to determine as I attempted to look around, when I discovered that my body refused to respond to my commands. The zerg were everywhere in the darkness, but they too seemed to be held back by the same unseen force. It weighed down on me, hindering any movement beyond standing. This was an entirely new occurrence for me, but something else quickly caught my attention. Bane was there.

The creature that stood at my flank and slightly ahead was unmistakable, yet I could say nothing to my friend. Now the urge to fight my paralysis was rekindled, and I mentally struggled with my senses in attempt to free myself. However, dark colors began swirling across my field of view, indicating that my efforts were only forcing the dream to an abrupt end. I fought this now, willing myself to see more, when the great energy that held me fast made itself known at the last second.

A tall, dark silhouette stood before my friend and I. It's true shape was difficult to distinguish at best, with the multitude of odd, almost wing-like appendages protruding from somewhere on its upper body. The only thing to suggest that it even had a head was the fierce pair of glowing eyes set in the center of the shadowy mass. This being radiated an incredibly powerful, menacing aura, and it remained even as the rest of the dream gave way to the sound of running water and the uncomfortable feeling of my unforgiving bed of stones.

I woke with a start, finding my vision bathed in an odd, red color. This confused me at first, and I thought I was still dreaming, when a premature attempt to sit up reminded of last night. My ribs were terribly stiff and sensitive, and it made the breath catch in my throat with the sudden movement. I laid there a moment, letting the ache subside while I stared up at the mutalisk's battered wing that still hung over me. It fell sometime during the night, when Bane finally left the beast, but due to the structure of the wing, it couldn't be pulled flat against the ground, and the sun shone through it; changing the light underneath to a dull crimson. At last, I rolled over onto my hands and crawled out, into the daylight.

The suns were particularly bright this day, beating down into the rocky canyon I found myself in. Standing took an extra effort and made me dizzy, and I had to resist an unbearable urge to stretch; every joint and muscle seemed tired and sore. While studying the river for the first time, I dismissed the discomfort as an affect of last night, but I quickly reconsidered it as a bad night's rest. I had, after all, just crawled out from under a dead mutalisk this morning.

As I got my first real look around, I realized that I had no idea where I was or how I was going to get out, or, more importantly, how Bane was going to get me out. The river shrank to a wide, lazy stream here; babbling gently in complete contrast to the roar it was just a few short hours ago. Also, the surrounding canyon looked nothing like the area where we crashed into the water. I quickly saw that there was no way to tell how far down stream Bane and I drifted before finally washing onto this rocky bank. With all this thought on rivers and water, I suddenly discovered myself to be savagely thirsty. Taking slow, easy steps on the smooth stones, I approached the stream's edge. The clear, running liquid seemed clean enough, but I didn't know if it was safe to drink or not. I shook my head, deciding I'd take my chances, given that I probably swallowed a lot when Bane crashed into it.

After a long drink, standing seemed easier this time, and I studied my surroundings once more while wiping my mouth dry with the back of one fist. The crumpled form of the slain mutalisk was the first thing to catch my eye. Upon sight, I couldn't help thinking about what Bane goes through so I can live and feeling lousy about it. I tried to shake the thoughts, looking past the lifeless creature to the new environment set before me. The other side of the river, which was at my back, yielded only an unscalable cliff face that rose about halfway up the canyon. The canyon walls themselves were steeply carved out of solid rock, and even where the slick, grey stone wasn't shier, it was still beyond my courage to climb out. After my free fall from somewhere in the lower atmosphere yesterday, I wasn't planning on taking another chance with heights any time soon.

The canyon floor that Bane and I washed into was relatively small, but it was packed with rocks and boulders of all sizes. Very little vegetation could take root down here besides the occasional web of vines and a scraggly stand of stubborn bushes, but leafy trees could be seen along the high cliff tops. With the idea of climbing out of the question, and a lack of options otherwise, a hike up the canyon seemed a reasonable idea for the sake of exploration. For a moment, I worried over leaving my spot, possibly making it more difficult for Bane to find me if he showed up. I shrugged this off quickly, however, as the idea of meeting my friend halfway up the canyon wasn't without merit.

Just down stream, the water made an abrupt turn out of view and brought the clearing to a close by meeting the rock walls on both sides, making any further investigation downstream impossible. This left only one path, so, with one look back at the still, winged creature, I began following the river.

Though I have no idea how long I was out, I knew then, trapped in the spiraling recesses of my own mind, that I had not met death yet. The senses returned as I clawed my way back to reality; and, at last, I awoke to the muffled sounds of explosions and distant gunfire. I snarled in outrage as I immediately attempted to rise, only to find that my arms were bound to some large machine behind me with tightly-wrapped layers of chain. I jerked and lunged against my bonds, but they were set below the scythe joint, leaving the business edge of my blades powerless to cut the metal that held me fast, no matter how hard I strained and fought it.

Finally, I admitted defeat and slumped back to the grated steel floor, not sure of what to do next. My vision had adjusted to the darkness long since my awakening, but now, unable to move on, I studied my surroundings. The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that the fatal wounds stricken to me by the zerg had mysteriously vanished. I was totally perplexed as to the motive of the Terrans decisions at this point, but more importantly, my prison appeared to be inside one of their cramped buildings. With a sudden mental start, I realized that I had been inside this particular type of structure many times before; only on much different circumstances. Without warning, memory recalled those events, and the deep, burning ache grew from somewhere inside, reminding me of the awful toll I shall always pay in return for freedom.

I know not how long I sat chained in the darkness with my grief tearing at me; yet, like all pain, it passed with time, and soon only the continuous repercussions and muffed rattle of the battle outside accompanied me in the makeshift prison. I felt drained by my memory, all I could think of was drifting back out of consciousness, when my numb mind was quickly jarred back to attention by a wave of telepathic images. The swarm had completed its descent on this planet; millions of zerg and a growing hive cluster now occupied the city. Pictures from the countless overlords revealed that the battle was getting more and more desperate for the Terrans as supplies and reinforcements dwindled. Even in my 'cell', the actual sounds of the defenses outside were beginning to fade before the roaring backdrop of the endless swarm.

I struggled against my bonds again, jerking and pulling on the chains that wouldn't budge. The wall of machinery behind me recoiled loudly with each lunge of my arms, but the effort was in vain. I snarled in frustration, helplessly listening to the all but nonexistent gunfire of the crumbling Terran defenses.

Without warning, a series of solid repercussions started pounding from the stubby door of the building, which was just in my sight at the end of the room. It appeared that a number of the zerg had already come for me as the disturbance intensified. I scanned the area with my mind, searching for anything that would tell me about the enemies I was about to face with my arms tied. Try as I might, my assailants offered no clues to their plans, when just as suddenly, the noise stopped.

At this time, the agitated verbal swear of a Terran voice could be heard before the room erupted with gunfire. Bullets riddled the door with holes, ricocheting off the floor and walls as they came through. When the shots stopped, there was only a moment's hesitation before an armored boot smashed the hatch open. The room was flooded with the light of midday and the sounds of the battle outside tripled. In an instant, four Terrans wearing worn combat suits filed through the entrance. Two of them stayed watch by the door while the others approached me almost at a run. They were all carrying weapons, but one of them toted an odd, bulky canister and some hoses as well. This Terran immediately stepped forward and began inspecting the chains that bound my right scythe. The last one stood and faced me, retracting the faceplate on it's helmet by hand,

"Sorry it took us so long, biggie, we kinda had to wait on the rebel guards to clear out before we stole you," The Terran widely known as 'Boss' said to me in a rush.

"You!" My telepathic words practically stammered, "So it was you I sensed among the Terran ranks; what are you doing here?!"

"It's a long story that I'll be glad to tell you if we live," Boss answered before shielding his eyes as the other Terran ignited an intense little flame with the machine they carried.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked in confusion as the torch heated the chains to the point of fracture.

"Just returning the favor," Boss replied quickly, "It would be a little harder to get up every day if I let the rebels turn you into a science experiment after what you did for us back there on Korhal,"

"Ha!" I snarled, "So there are still some traces of morality left among your species, after all."

"There might be," the Terran scoffed, "but don't tell anyone or you'll ruin my reputation."

"Alright," the soldier with the torch, who I now recognized by voice as T.J., announced while stepping back and extinguishing the flame, "That should do it. Give them a jerk, Bane."

As instructed, I lunged against the chains once more and, this time, they released their hold on one arm with a satisfying clank. After that blade was loose, I reached across my body and freed the other with four hacks of a mono-molecular edge.

"Wow!" T.J. exclaimed, discarding the cutting torch, "That's a neat trick."

"Getting out of here without being killed by the zerg, or shot at, will be an even better one," Boss interrupted, "Let's go!"

The Terran encampment was in utter chaos. Half their structures were either airborne or burning as I moved outside to join my short rescuers. It was now midday, but the light of the suns didn't bring new hope for the Tarsonian defenders. A thick screen of smoke hung in the air and rampant gunfire was constantly audible some distance away. Though the multitude of fires pierced the dark cloud with their dull, shifting glows, visibility was poor in the ravaged base.

Despite the blinding fog, figures began appearing in the mists. There were only one or two at first, but soon, multiple sets of twin lights could be seen weaving their way through the few buildings still on the ground. A second later, one of them suddenly stopped, turning it's pair of headlamps at us.

"That's our cue, boy's; let's find the ship," Boss said almost calmly.

A stern Terran voice erupted from somewhere in the smoke while we began our escape, but it's exact words became inaudible as we left them behind.

We covered a short distance totally unencumbered in the smoke screen, weaving through the pathways left between the seemingly abandoned structures, but the shouts and footfalls of our pursuers was never far behind. As the Terrans led me down a cramped passageway between rows of supply depo's, much like the one I was imprisoned in, Boss came to a stop so suddenly that the rest of the group nearly stumbled into his backside.

"Shit!" he swore, "Take cover!"

In a split second, the group backpedaled and dove to the ground behind the safety of the last supply depo as a hail of gunfire rained in the open and peppered the buildings' metal construction.

"What now?!" I snarled with angrily among the rattle of automatic fire.

"They're taking the ship!" Boss yelled back, flinching as a few rounds of guass fire ricocheted into our protective corridor. Without warning, Mosely, who was the last one in the group, turned from us and began firing his weapon back down the ally, and Joe quickly joined him with a sharp word,

"We've got more company! We need that ship, pronto!"

The marines we had been evading finally caught up. They were suppressed at the mouth of the path for now, but they fired rounds of their own back at us, pelting the light armor of the Terrans' suits. It wasn't as bad as standing in the brunt of the firepower that held the ship, but my rescuers would not last long under these conditions.

"Wait here," I growled, "I'll get your ship back."

Moving into the enemies direct line of fire wasn't exactly the best tactical option, but charging against the streams of lead was all my allies had time for. The relentless sheet of flying metal sparked and bounced from my healed, resilient carapace, but the small group of armed Terrans that guarded the ships in the clearing didn't show fear of my wrath. They held their positions, uselessly firing their weapons at me as I met the first of their ranks with my blades. My right cleaved the rifle from the marine's arm, ripping open the hand that held it before a blunt-sided blow with my left plowed the helpless creature to the ground at the feet of its shocked comrades.

Their firing ceased for only a brief second, but I could now sense panic in the remaining squad members as they backpedaled towards the craft, again, futilely attempting to harm me with their insufficient weaponry. The group of six had come together in their efforts, but they scattered again as I lunged for them with my blades. A pair of cowardly foes bolted away, leaving their comrades to pepper my sides with impaler rounds once more while I cut down the hapless individual that was too slow to dodge my initial attack. The last three marines, finally realizing the inevitable outcome of this resistance, abandoned their defensive and retreated up the ramp of Boss's ship.

Two of them halted at the top of the incline with blazing barrels while the third vanished somewhere inside. I wasn't far behind my badly outmatched targets, charging into their ever-weakening onslaught of flying metal. One of the marine's guass rifles suddenly groaned to a stop with an odd ticking sound, indicating that it was out of ammunition at the last possible moment. Holding back the majority of my strength, I swatted the only fighting soldier across the helmet with the blunt edge of one scythe, yet, the Terran was still knocked against the wall and unconscious just by the momentum behind the attack. It's body fell back to the floor and flopped off the edge of the ramp to fall motionless to the churned dirt. I now faced the lone marine, who fumbled with a new clip as it backed into the craft. I couldn't help teasing the panicking Terran, following it slowly until it's path of escape was cut short by the rear wall of the cargo hold.

Finally, the cartridges slid home with a click and the marine held the gun out to me, yet, it never got the chance to release the angry metal shards. I threw one blade into the oversized shoulder of my adversary and the scythe punched through the armor to the other side, bursting one of the lamps mounted there, but the edge failed to actually meet the flesh somewhere inside the metal shell. The soldier all but dropped his rifle in surprise of the sudden movement, leaving me to heft the Terran skyward, smashing it, helmet-first, against the grated metal roof. The marine's faceplate shattered on impact and it arms dropped, letting the annoying weapon it carried fall to floor with a clatter.

Suddenly, I remembered Boss and his crew fighting the rest of the soldiers just outside. Growling in frustration, I turned only long enough to hurl my enemy in the direction of the ramp before punching in the cockpit door with the other closed scythe-joint. The thin metal hatch gave easily after the second blow, crumpling inwards onto the control panel between a startled pilot and one last, petrified marine.

"Get OUT!" I snarled, prompting immediate action. The pair nodded dumbly before leaping out of the exits adjacent to them without any further hesitation. Bursts of gunfire from the cargo door followed, and I immediately spun to face this new threat, nearly catching T.J. with one scythe.

"Hey! Easy, there, biggie!" He piped, stepping wide to avoid the hazardous edge of my blades and reach the cockpit controls. Mosely and Joe were halfway up the ramp, firing at an unseen enemy on the left while Boss plodded up the incline towards me.

"Good work, big guy," He commented offhandedly on the way to the front, "You cleared the place out faster than the day after TJ's fajitas." Without warning, the ship lurched beneath us and it's engines roared to life. Joe and Mosely abandoned their posts at the door, letting the cargo ramp swing into place. Yet, before it did, flashes of brown carapace could be seen streaking past the opening from the right; zerglings. I became sure of it as the thought of my old foes brought brief images from the overlords and the warriors on the ground. The swarm had broken free of the city blockade.

The ship's engines screamed a higher pitch and the cargo ramp slammed home, sending new shudders through the vessel while it began hovering, fighting for altitude.

"Hold on!" TJ's voice suddenly blurted from the cockpit; our only warning before the ship leapt forward with a sudden blast of it's thrusters. I hooked my scythes inside the doorframe of the pilots compartment to resist the exceeding change in velocity. Only dark smoke could be seen in the windshield as I pulled myself forward again. Using just the instruments and teamwork, the Terrans maneuvered the craft through the limited airspace, which was choked with hovering buildings that hung in the air half ablaze. They loomed out of the fog in numbers, forcing the vessel to take, slow, winding turns to avoid them as they appeared.

Without warning, new visions wracked my thoughts, bringing images of the brood's aerial fighters.

"Our time is up!" I growled, "We must go faster!"

T.J. spoke up after examining one of the screens set among the complicated controls of the machine,

"He's right, we've got a whole mess of zerg signals, and they're closing in a hurry!"

"Where are they comin' from?" The Terran commander barked, already beginning to accelerate again.

"Everywhere!" T.J. exclaimed, "The whole grid is jammed with them below the fifth lateral and they're moving in fast! Punch it!"

The ship replied almost instantly with another eruption of noise from its engines, jarring us all back again as it found new speeds. Boss swore, wrestling the controls to avoid the massive, burning structures that floated in our path. Despite their size, they surged by the windshield as the craft struggled to maneuver past them.

"It's n-no use!" T.J. stuttered, glancing frantically back and forth between the instruments and the intense show just outside the brittle sheet of glass in front of us, "They're gaining!"

"How fast can they be?!" Boss yelled in frustration. As if on cue, another sound suddenly burst into earshot above that of the craft, and it was one I knew well. The roar of the mutalisks was only a brief warning before a glave wurm struck the ship like a hammer blow. An explosion of wrenching metal could be heard as the ship swerved off-course from the impact, bringing the corner of one building perilously close. Despite the efforts of the whining engines, we were struck again, wracking the craft aside once more and causing an annoying alarm to start wailing from the complicated Terran controls.

"Machines!" I snarled, releasing my hold on the doorframe to remedy this imminent failure.

"What are you doing?!" T.J. yelled over one shoulder as I turned warily in the heaving craft. I ignored him, lunging past a confused Joe and Mosely to the sealed cargo door. The great hatch responded with a brief clang and the screech of tearing alloy when my blades punched through it.

Growling with the effort, I pulled up on the door with all my strength. The metal groaned and made sudden, giving screeches while the steel grating in the floor warped beneath my tail. Without warning, the craft was hit with yet another glave wurm on the left side. The impending shock from the assault rocked the ship again, and the extra motion added to my exertion on the door, finally ripping the hulk of metal from its resting place with a last, terrible noise and a shower of sparks from the protesting electronics.

Air roared around the hatch as it was suddenly released at such a speed. There was hardly time to comprehend what had happened before the door was sucked away, nearly taking me with it as the wall of metal was ripped from my scythes instantly. It tumbled away, floundering into the smoky haze and causing our pursuers to swerve and dive to avoid a deadly mid-air collision.

"Get your weapons!" I snarled at the two Terrans strapped in the seats. Though they didn't leave the safety of their harnesses, the pair responded with quick looks of understanding before taking aim with their guns.

In a moments time, the mutalisk's returned from the fog for another run at the ship, however, they were now met with the stinging metal shards of two gauss rifles and a potent volley of my needle spines. The first of our airborne assailants was actually forced to turn back before getting close enough to release a glave wurm, but it's brethren sped onward, determined to attack no matter the damage we caused to their outstretched wings.

"HOLD ON!" Boss's voice boomed over the chaos while we made a hard turn into another cluster of floating structures. The quick maneuver caught me off-guard, practically hurling me to one side of the hangar. Instinctively, I threw my blades out in front, and momentum carried the scythes through the ship's hull with an ear-piercing screech of metal. I could do nothing but watch the sides of the buildings thunder by so closely they could have been touched by an outstretched blade, were both of them not lodged in the wall of the cargo bay. The uncountable number of mutalisks poured into view temporarily; churning and diving into the maelstrom of hovering Terran structures. The bulk of the flock ignored us, taking easier paths through the base before vanishing in the fog altogether.

For a brief moment, everything suddenly grew still, save for the occasional sway and drone of the ship as it cornered around the buildings when they came into sight. With a twist, and an agitated snarl, I tore one blade free, using it to push on the wall with and draw the other scythe from the hull. TJ looked away from the open rear of the ship long enough to inspect the holes I left before facing me,

"At the rate you're going, we should have left this poor bird with the Rebels!"

I ignored the Terran's comment as a new sound became audible above that of the craft. Deep, thumping percussions could be heard somewhere ahead, but this couldn't have been caused by mutalisks alone. The explosions grew and grew in amplitude, even causing turbulence in the racing vessel, until this new threat made itself known in the form of falling death.

Boss hadn't even time to swear before a building surged into view directly in front of the ship. The huge machine was fiery wreck, plummeting back to the planet so closely that there was no time to change directions or even react beyond watching as the flaming mass filled the windshield. However, the collision never came; just as quickly as it streaked into view, the structure was miraculously gone again. That danger had passed, but it left only to reveal a stream of scourge flooding through the remaining buildings across our path. The insane fliers rammed headlong into the structures, exploding on impact with plumes of fire and corrosive acid.

"Can we punch through?!" Boss snapped suddenly above the noise. T.J.'s voice was quick in response,

"Not a chance! Drop under!"

Without warning, the ship suddenly pitched forward and banked to the left, leaving the view of the flying swarms somewhere above as we rocketed back towards the ground, which was still hidden by the unforgiving smoke screen. My tail lost grip on the floor almost instantly, letting me slide forward until the blunt edge of my scythes met the cockpit's doorframe again. With the added benefit of gravity now working with them, the engines screamed to ever increasing tones. All too soon, an alarm began chirping from somewhere among the instruments, and the Terran leader heaved back on the controls, fighting speed and momentum to right the craft once more. I snarled with the effort of standing upright against the great change in velocity, but the angle still wasn't enough.

"It's no use!" T.J. yelped, "Here comes the deck!"

Trees raced from the smoke, growing instantly in detail. At the last possible second, fog obscured our view again, and it seemed that the ship may actually pull out of the dive unscathed, until something struck the vessel with a sound bordering on that of an explosion. I was practically hurled to the floor as tree limbs shattered the windshield and the rip and scrape of metal consumed the hearing. Suddenly, the engines died just before the forest reached an abrupt clearing. The grassy land rushed up to meet the nose of the craft, but the point of impact is mercifully absent from memory.

My senses returned quickly; the sound of the ship crashing to a stop could be heard only a short distance away while I struggled to determine which direction was up. After a moment, I regained enough bearing to stand. I wavered at first, still dazed and spitting dirt because my face was buried in it, but my eyes brought the still, smoldering form of the dropship into focus almost immediately. It appeared to have skipped across the field before careening back into the woods, finally coming to rest against a massive tree.

"I hate machines..." I growled, hacking up a final mud clod. Forcing my sore body into a run, I hurried to reached the crippled vessel. Though I believed the Terrans would be hurt in the crash, they defied my reckoning, emerging from the open rear of the smoking wreck on their own power as I approached. They were shaken by the turbulent landing, but seemed to be relatively unscathed, piling out of the ship one by one with weapons trembling, but at the ready. I noticed the last one, T.J., favoring one arm, as Boss staggered to me with a limp,

"You okay, biggie?" He asked, before I could say something of the same.

"Never been better," I snarled before motioning to the injured Terran, "How's that one doing?"

T.J. piped up suddenly, holding the suspect limb out with a grimace,

"It's just a little scratch from one of your scythes when you went through the windshield, I'll be fine."

The wound couldn't be seen, hidden somewhere beneath the armor of the powered suit. A smooth gash in the metal plating was the only thing that indicated any hint of damage.

"Besides," T.J. added, looking over one shoulder at the lifeless craft, "the ship's toast; we've got bigger problems right now. How are we going to get off this rock before the zerg gain complete control of it?"

No one said anything in response. Even then, the sounds of the remaining military structures were audible, crumpling and exploding somewhere in the distance. Before long, I broke the silence, speaking with renewed resolve,

"Now is not the time for despair; We must put as much distance between ourselves and the zerg as possible. Reece still awaits my return in a canyon not far from here. If I start back now, I may still find the mortal there by dusk-"

"Wait!" Boss interrupted, "You ran into that kid? Here, on Tarsonis?! How did you find him? Reece contacted us yesterday for extraction from the city, but we were stopped by the defense garrison. We all thought he was a goner!"

"Not as long as I have blade in the matter," I growled, "But the endeavor was not an easy one, I can assure you of that. Now, if you're going to follow me still, we must get moving..."

I let the words die as a new noise crossed the hearing. At first, it was merely a dull drone that barely stood out against the thud and crackle of the relentless swarms, but now the sound was growing unmistakably louder, and the Terrans and I began looking around for the source.

"It sounds like a ship," Joe yelled over the roar the noise had become. Boss spoke up, confirming his comrade's assumption,

"That's not just any old shuttle," The leader barked, "It's Interceptor two!"

Seconds later, a craft could be seen looming out of the fog, hovering into view. It's engines whined loudly, holding it in a low hover just over the trees. The Terran's switched on their suit lights and began waving their arms around in attempt to draw the pilot's attention. It worked; The ship turned toward us, dipping one wing as it passed overhead to land in the field we crashed through only moments ago. It's thrusters kicked up a whirlwind of dust while it shuddered down to rest on its landing gear.

"Alright!" Boss exclaimed, "Kip must have escaped the Mark II; let's roll!"

The craft's engines rolled to a lower pitch and the rear cargo ramp swung down as we trekked across the clearing. I let my rescuers lumber into the waiting dropship first, and an unusually young voice greeted us upon entering,

"You guys don't know how lucky you are! If you hadn't crashed the other ship and triggered the emergency transmitter just then, I probably never would have found you before the zerg did!"

I took note of the short, wiry Terran who spoke over one shoulder without looking back at us, furiously flipping switches and working the complicated controls to get airborne again quickly. The ramp to the hold closed behind us while the engines screamed back up to speed.

"That's odd," The small pilot announced out loud before finally turning around to face us, "The boosters are using more power than they should to just be- Oh, god! Where'd that thing come from?!"

Kip, as Boss had referred to him, practically leapt out of his pilots seat upon first sight of me.

"Relax, man," T.J. tried to calm the panicking Terran, "It's only biggie! Fly us out of here before his pissed off look-a like's show up."

"What do you mean by ONLY?! That thing's huge! What could you possibly be doing with it?!"

"Are all the members of your race frightened so easily?" I growled to no one in particular.

"It speaks, too?!" Kip practically screeched, interrupting me and covering his ears with both hands.

"And it's going to be doing a lot more of it," Boss almost yelled in response, trying to get the kid to regain his senses before glancing towards me,

"Bane, tell em' where to look for Reece. We're getting off this planet!"

The hike up the canyon was slow and cumbersome due to my ribs, of which I suspected one or two to be broken or badly bruised, but the scenery along the way was breath-taking. Massive boulders in the river created swirling whirlpools in the water in some places, yet, the stream could appear almost glassy around the next bend, despite the wild current that surly lay just beneath. The rock walls always towered above, glowing a soft red in the afternoon sunlight on one side, while the other stayed almost a constant, cool blue in the shade. I slowly made my way upstream along the left bank, stopping to drink from the cold river periodically to keep myself hydrated. Occasionally, an odd looking fish would leap from the rapids, making an extra splash that stood out against the constant rush of the water. At some points, the river became really violent, and it amazed me that I had drifted so far down stream without drowning or getting smashed on a rock.

I don't know far I walked, but some time into the trek, I finally came to the waterfall that Bane dove down to avoid the wraith's missiles. It was almost as high as the canyon was deep, but the rocky incline next to it didn't look unscalably steep. However, the only way to reach it was a hazardous swim across the turbulent, churning water at the base of the falls. Even attempting further exploration was impossible, yet, I felt strangely content with the just the sight of the majestic feature of nature that I found. Darkness would have been falling soon, anyway, so I decided to make my way back to the slain mutalisk.

Though I was beginning to grow terribly hungry on the way to the clearing where Bane washed up, the canyon's scenery still captivated me with an entirely different mood. The high cliffs on both sides turned to a deep purplish color as the suns began setting. Reflections of these colors were cast on the running water, illuminating the opposite wall in a soft, shimmering glow. At one point, about halfway down through the hike back, I believe I found the place were Bane and I hit the water, but I couldn't be sure. The light was fading fast and there wasn't time to stand around and look.

I made it back to the clearing just before true night came, and once it did, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. The moon wasn't out, and my surroundings were pitch black. At first, I managed to keep my cool as it got darker and darker, but once my eyes became totally useless and little noises seemed to spring up everywhere in the night, I began to lose my nerve. The only thing visible was a slit of starry sky, making me feel like I was trapped in some deep, cold hole in the planet. I quickly began to wish for a zergling that could build fires, and as hunger got to me again, possibly one that could catch a few of those strange looking fish as well. Add this to the far off thud and roar of the swarms, and I was on the verge of being petrified by my own thoughts.

It felt like I sat there in the darkness forever, remembering in envy of how well Bane could see in such pitch blackness, when a new sound could finally be heard. It started as a distant hum, and began growing louder until I could identify it as some kind of hovering aircraft. I got to my feet, straining to see something in the impenetrable night, when, at last, a pair of bright search lights appeared from around the bend, about twenty feet over the water. The intense lamps scorched my eyes for a moment before they could adjust, and I had to hold one hand up to protect them while waving the other overhead in attempt to get the pilot's attention. Who ever it was, they didn't seem to need help spotting me. The ship approached quickly, with engines screaming in the confines of the canyon, before doing a single sweep over the area for the best landing spot. As it dropped its gear and finally inched down on the rock a short distance away, I got a better look at the craft and couldn't believe what I saw. It was the other dropship from the Mark II.

"Too much time has passed! We should recall to the surface and search while the zerg are still occupied with the remaining Terran defenses!" Teilon's telepathic voice was growing past urgency to concern.

"I agree," Dair'Sar added, "The cerebrate is more powerful than I expected, but we cannot stand idly by while it is overtaken by the swarms. How could Bane possibly leave the planet without a ship?"

"On the contrary," the last student contradicted his peers with calm, collected words, "We should give this 'Hero' more time. The cerebrate contacted us, before, with only the prowess of it's mind; Surely, Bane would send word if trouble arose."

"San' Dreale is right, my pupils," Rakeem replied with the same undying tone, but even the old Templar was secretly beginning to have doubts about the decision to let his friend go alone,

"Bane has survived countless sorties against Zerg and Terran ranks alike. I am sure that we will hear from the cerebrate, again, shortly."

"How can you be so confident?!" Teilon blurted suddenly, finally letting the brunt of his frustration be known, "Days have passed since Bane left, and all this while, the Zerg have tripled their numbers!"

The tense air on the bridge could have been cut with a knife at this point, and all students awaited Rakeem's calm reprimand. However, before the Templar could respond, San' Dreale spoke up from his constant post at the Kalimar's control's,

"In most instances, I wouldn't interrupt such a productive conversation, but there appears to be a small Terran vessel approaching our position."

"Uncountable numbers of them have been abandoning the planet since the zerg appeared," Teilon turned to his pupil, "What makes this one different?"

The tension instantly dissolved, and only curiosity remained as the eldest student quickly presented the reason behind his decision,

"As you are all aware, the San'Sor arrived from warp space only a few hour's time ago, and is now providing a cloak. However, the pilot of this Terran vessel has apparently located the Kalimar without the aid of detection. The cerebrate may be onboard."

"How did you come to these conclusions?" Dair'Sar was the first to object, speaking before Teilon could present the same argument, "The pilot could be simply flying towards us blindly; it has happened before-"

"That was my first assumption as well," San'Dreale interrupted while activating the hologram, so his brethren could see for themselves, "But the ship is slowing down."

The bridge fell silent as the four Templar watched the tiny, flickering image of the simple Terran vessel creep to a halt before the hulking shape of the carrier. Without warning, the Protoss were startled by a familiar mental shimmer that passed over them like a wave, eliminating any doubt in San'Dreale's reckoning.

After a brief, but cheerful reunion with Bane and the mercenaries back in the canyon, the trip into space was mostly quiet and uneventful. Aside from the occasional word with Kip, who I was still shocked to see alive, the other Terrans said very little, and Bane was practically in a state of meditation. It seemed that the hydralisk didn't take notice to me or anyone else onboard once we left the planet's surface. At one point, when the others broke the silence with a sudden burst of conversation, I finally looked up from my seat to the silent beast that stood next to me,

"What's wrong?" I asked, almost in a whisper. Bane had no trouble hearing my words, but did not answer with some of his own. Instead, the hydralisk merely stared down at me for a moment before going back into its own little world. Yet, when our eyes met, the answer hit me like run-away mutalisk. A blind man could have seen the pain behind those drained eyes in that moment; it was the kind of awful, grinding hurt that twists your insides, choking the life from you, and there's absolutely nothing that can be done to stop it.

I wanted to say something, anything, to lift Bane out of this bottomless hole, but again, like back in the memorial, the words were caught in my throat. What can one say at a time like that? This created a feeling of true helplessness, far worse than that of being stuck in a canyon, lost in the desert, or trapped in a zerg-infested city. I could only sit there in the silence, torn by the extent of Bane's condition, but as if on cue, somebody up front yelled above the others,

"Hey, get Biggie up here!"

Despite only a nickname being mentioned, Bane snapped to, moving up front without a word as everyone else cleared a path. I followed my friend to the pilots compartment, were Boss and T.J. were at the controls. The familiar, black sea of space filled one side of the windshield, with Tarsonis's bland moon occupying the other. After the hydralisk squeezed itself through the short hatch, which took a moment's effort, Boss spoke up again,

"We're here, in the place you said, but I don't see any carrier. What's the deal?"

"Though I know nothing about this 'deal' you speak of, there is no need to fret. The Kalimar is simply fooling you with it's cloak."

To my surprise, Bane's telepathic voice didn't show the slightest hint of his actual well-being,

"Are you sure?" T.J. piped up, "The scanners don't have anything on-screen..."

"Indeed." the hydralisk repeated, "As a matter of the fact, you should halt this ship before we crash into it."

"Shit, Bane!" T.J. swore, throwing switches and reversing the thrusters, "It's kinda important that you warn us about imminent, fiery death's far in advance."

"Well, what's the bright idea, now?" Boss grumbled,

Straining to see in the fathomless depths of space, I suddenly remembered how my friend helped me through the sewers back on Tarsonis,

"Let me see," I said quickly, peering up at the towering hydralisk that had to hunch over some to clear the low cockpit ceiling.

"As you wish," Bane answered, not seeming surprised in the least that I asked, "Clear your thoughts..."

"Let you see?! What does that mean?" Boss turned around and noticed me for the first time, but his words grew muffled as a now familiar numbness drifted over my senses. I had some difficulty immediately focusing on the alien consciousness that invaded my mind, but in a moment, the feeling of my body rushed away to be all but replaced by an amplified ability of hearing and the most jaw-dropping view of space anyone could ever dream of.

The carrier that Bane promised was sitting in plain view, only a few seconds' flight away in the shadow of the moon, but my attention was immediately drawn to everything else. The backdrop for the Kalimar was the rocky surface of Tarsonis's moon, with every crater and dip revealed in perfect detail. More impressive yet, was the other half of the windshield; It boasted a window to the rest of the universe. It was like someone threw a switch and the black void of space was replaced with light, multiplying the apparent vastness of it a hundred fold. A countless maelstrom of planets and bodies of colorful gases, huge and tiny, could be seen for an immeasurable distance. Eye-shot was ended only by the utterly tremendous light from the innumerable stars, setting the whole scene in an unreachable, fog-like bowl.

"...Wow..." I finally gasped breathlessly, stunned to the point beyond words.

"Hey, Reece! Are you okay? Can you see anything?" With my borrowed sense of hearing, T.J.'s voice sounded load and clumsy, as if it was gracelessly spat into the open air.

I managed to ignore the words, unwilling to answer for fear of shattering the delicate picture, but it was to be short-lived, anyway. T.J. soon took hold of my shoulder and gave me a shake, repeating the words,

"You alright, kid? Talk to us," The sudden movement dashed my focus on Bane's mind and the dull human senses of my own body returned in a flash. Finally, I managed to shake my head and say something,

"Yeah..." I answered at last, "I see it."

"Well, if that's the case, it's a good thing you know your way around ships," Boss spoke up impatiently as he released his seat belt, "Jump up here and park this tub before the zerg find us all out in the open."

"Wait," I croaked as a realization hit me, "I don't have the slightest idea where to dock with a Protoss carrier!"

"Good point," Boss admitted before turning to face the hydralisk, "We need your help again, biggie."

"One moment," Bane responded with a slight growl, "I will attempt to contact Rakeem telepathically."

"What's a Rakeem?" Joe nagged from somewhere in the back, but my friend didn't answer that question directly,

"Silence! It will take much concentration to reach the Protoss mentally; you shall know Rakeem soon enough."

I was grateful for what little practice I had using Bane's vision and controlling my body with any amount of coordination at the same time, because there was no margin for a slip-up, now. With Boss keeping the ship at a crawl, I was able to maneuver the craft around to the front of the Kalimar, as Bane directed, and safely inside the main hangar without a hitch. Thankfully, once we we're inside the hull, the cloaking field dissolved, allowing Boss to take command of the ship once more and finish the docking himself. Just past a short tunnel into the carrier, the interior space practically exploded outward, housing four sets of separate mini-hangers on either side. Each space held a row of unknown machinery and one sleek little vessel a piece. Soon, I would come to know the tiny ships as Interceptors, but for now, the sight of them was totally fascinating. The mercenaries and I we're struck silent in awe as we flew past the fighters and over a motionless assembly line. The automated machines were perfectly still, as if frozen in time; complete with another one of the miniature fighter crafts only half-finished.

"I guess this is where we stop," Boss announced, finally breaking the calm as we came to a clearing at the end of the hangar.

"How do we know its safe to go outside?" I asked in confusion, "I didn't see any air locks on the way in."

T.J. leaned forward, checking the instruments while the ship shuddered and heaved, hovering down to rest on its landing gear.

"The gauges show that everything's cool," He reported as we finally rocked to a stop with one last whine of the engines, "The pressure and gas levels are a perfect match to what's in here; Even the simulated gravity readings are the same."

"That can't be right..." Boss mumbled, checking the instruments for himself. Mosely, who hadn't said so much as a word the entire trip, finally spoke up,

"Open tha' door and let's see."

Although I don't recall them being there on our approach, four pale, wiry looking beings, wearing bunches of tired old rags, were standing in a row as the dropship's main hatch lowered to become the cargo ramp at their feet. These mouth-less, fiery eyed creatures competed with Bane in height, and they really startled me upon first sight of them. After all, I had never seen a Protoss, in person, until then. Without warning, a rough telepathic voice crackled into my mind,

"Bane! May the Khala be blessed; you're alive!"

"Did you expect a different outcome?" The hydralisk growled, sounding almost sarcastic as it moved down the incline. However, I knew the terrible truth. Bane's nonchalant attitude seemed paper-thin to me as the conversation continued,

"And you've hardly been scathed!" This was obviously a different speaker than the first, yet, Bane was quick to respond again,

"On the contrary, I have come closer to death than you know-"

"How did you find one specific Terran among thousands? Why did you bring so many others back with you?" Another, younger, voice rattled into my thoughts, interrupting my friend in mid-sentence with more prying questions, but the mercenaries were now inclined to speak for themselves,

"Hey, hey! Hold on there, ugly! What's all this 'Terran' and 'others' stuff about?"

Boss was the first to break the ice for the odd group, marching out of the ship to stand next to Bane as he spoke,

"I'll have you know that we played no small part in this little disaster! I'm out three light craft and one VERY expensive renovated cruiser; not to mention all the hardware collected onboard, and, to top it all off, my favorite downtown bar was trashed by a marauding band of zerglings! So, if you know what's good for you, you won't try to exclude us so quickly."

"I'm with you, Boss," Joe barked suddenly, "I've been running a pint low ever since we left the joint, and that sets me on edge. Now that I'm surrounded by strange aliens, I could start blasting any time!"

Were he capable of it, I believe Bane would have laughed just then, but whether it was caused by the mercenaries' sudden outbursts or the relief they brought from the Templar's nagging questions, I couldn't tell.

These four, lethal-looking creatures, whom we just met, didn't appear to be amused in the least.

"My apologies for my...friends' enthusiasm; I had nearly forgotten their due introductions." the hydralisk began again with a growl that sounded more Bane-like than any I've had the opportunity to hear since we left the memorial.

"Very well," The first Protoss 'voice' announced after a short, tense pause, "What happened?"

"After your shuttle...carried me to the surface, I found the city already under siege by the descending swarms." Bane shifted to one side, so that I was no longer hidden from the Templars' view, "However, by using their minds against them, I was able to find my friend before time ran out."

Almost before Bane could gesture toward me with one scythe, the Protoss replied in disbelief,

"A child?!" One of them blurted with fierce, glowing eyes. I could feel my own eyes heat up a little as the old peeve of being judged by my age flared at my temper, but I held my thoughts while Bane continued,

"Despite my efforts, we were separated once again and I found myself at the mercy of the swarms. However, before they could take my life, the Tarsonian defenses intervened. For reason still unknown to me, they spared my life, alone, from among my brethren, and took me prisoner. By miracle of fate, the same Terran warriors that ushered the mortal to Tarsonis were among them and came to my aid. With their help, we all escaped the planet nearly unscathed."

"Nearly?" The same Templar that spoke before interrupted with another singe-worded question, only this time, the tone was something more along the lines of sarcasm.

"We had a slight confrontation with a small number of my aerial counterparts during our exodus," Bane stopped only to motion towards his left, signifying the Terran there that still favored one arm by cradling it in the other,

"T.J. was wounded and requires attention..."

When my friend paused once more, he seemed to sigh before speaking again. I knew what Bane wanted to say next, but, somehow, I knew the words wouldn't come.

"I...feel drained by my struggles...It is my wish that I have somewhere to be alone; where I may rest."

Out of everything Bane said, the eldest Templar seemed the most shocked by this. Yet, despite my expectations, the Protoss appeared to understand immediately. With only a nod, the tall, pale creature I suspected to be Rakeem, and the leader of the group, gave the command, prompting one of the other Templar to lead Bane away to a single, door-less passage that probably went deeper into the carrier.

"Bane!" I yelled as my friend practically sulked away, trailing behind the swift-legged Protoss, "Wait!"

On their own, my feet began to move beneath me, but the last Templar on the row turned with one arm as I passed, gracefully snagging me up by the back of the shirt as if it had preformed this trick countless times before. The featureless, yellow floor fell away from my booted feet as the surprisingly strong being lifted me into the air. I could hear the mercenaries tense up, but they made no move to help as the Protoss commander held me out at arm's length and it's impatient voice cut across my thoughts,

"The cerebrate has requested time alone, and even you shall respect that wish." The Templar moved only to shift its piercing gaze toward the other Terrans before speaking again,

"Were the decision up to me, I would cast the rest of you out into the open void of space, but since Bane see's merit in your presence, you may have free passage onboard my ship until further notice."

I braced myself for the four foot drop to the deck, but the Protoss surprised me again by lowering me back to the ground, almost gently, before speaking one last time,

"However, IF any of you threaten me or one of my students with your barbaric weapons just once more, I shall personally ensure that it never happens again."

Without so much as another word, Rakeem turned from us and stalked off, with the two remaining Templar in tow.

"Hey, wait up! Where are we going?!" Boss yelled after them, but to no avail.

For a long moment, there was nothing but silence left with us in the vast hangar, until Mosely got the last word just as the scrawny, impatient beings vanished from sight completely,

"What's their problem?"

That was the last I saw of my friend for two days. Everyone else seemed more than a little steamed at the Protoss for just leaving us in the hangar, but I didn't really blame them, even though I never voiced that opinion. Boss and his crew of cohorts bickered and complained over our current situation for an hour or so, but they soon lost the fight for it. After all, the Interceptor II was low on cells, and the Kalimar seemed to be our only chance to escape the sector before the zerg finally cornered us.

From then on, time practically oozed by. The Protoss never returned to help with T.J.'s arm, so he eventually rummaged through the drop ship and found the field kit to dress the wound himself. It took ages, but I finally discovered a half-comfortable position on the cold metal floor of the dropship and managed to fall asleep for a few hours at a time. After waking to a breakfast of ration supplements, I quickly found myself going mad with boredom again, so the opportunity to explore the massive hangar caught my interest easily.

At first, I felt better and better as the sound of other voices faded away with each footstep. They soon vanished completely as I reached the beginning of the assembly area, rounded the corner and began studying the odd arrangement of huge machines. Motionless robotic arms protruded from the mass of rivet-less metal. Made from the same continuos material as the rest of the ship, the contraption before me appeared to be some kind of production line for building the small fighters from scratch, but raw materials and pre-forged parts were nowhere to be found. I walked the entire length of the miniature factory, but to no avail. Small, mysterious tanks were built into the machine at regular intervals, and every mechanized limb held an unusual apparatus that looked almost like a fancy gun barrel. A multitude of curved prongs stuck out like unruly fingers on the end of each one, making the whole mess look like some one melted a bunch of yellow robots together and their arms were left reaching out in all directions.

As my thoughts clashed over the new puzzle before me, the awful question surfaced in my mind again: Was Bane okay? Up until now, the beast I considered my best friend seemed mentally invincible, but I knew that the recent news of this Charley person had torn every last bit of life from the witty hydralisk and I appeared to be the only one who was aware of it. I was the only one who could help him.

I shook my head, tying to clear my thoughts, but the knowledge of Bane's condition haunted me as I began my hike back to the dropship.

Because there was nothing better to do, I explored the hangar twice more that day; T.J. and Kip even joined me on the third trip, and they were welcome company while I wound my way through each of the adjoining 'mini-hangars' for the second time.

By the start of the second day, I couldn't take it anymore. The mercenaries woke up with the same questions and complaints that no one knew the answer to and I began to wonder if I was ever destined to have a decent night's sleep. It was in the middle of another one of Boss's exasperated 'What the hell are they doing up there?'s when I finally snapped.

"Hey, where are you going, kid?" Joe announced as he noticed me marching off without saying anything. I continued to ignore everyone else, but they didn't make a move to stop me as I approached the large doorway that Bane and the Protoss disappeared through days ago.

At first, it was easy going. The bland, yellow hallway rounded a corner and began sloping upwards, but I immediately got an eerie feeling that I was being watched. Up ahead, I could see the corridor open to a junction point, and I began jogging to reach this new area, but as soon as I broke my stride, I was stopped dead by a wall of thin air.

"Are all Terrans as aimlessly clumsy as you?"

The strange, hoarse voice intruded my mind as I fell backwards and landed hard on the unforgiving metal floor, but my mouth was quick to bounce back,

"Are all Protoss so cowardly that they have to use their cloak to hide from little kids?"

The proud, rag-clad warrior responded immediately by fading into view before speaking again,

"What's your business here, Terran?"

"You know what I want," I practically spat the words at the tall, deadly alien as I got to my feet again, "I came to see Bane, now, get outta my wa-"

The Protoss who I ran into glared down at me with fiery eyes, interrupting me in mid-sentence,

"Our patriarch has ordered that you and your kind remain in the hangar; there is no need to disturb the cerebrate."

If this situation happened to me at any point in my life before, I would have backed down, but something was different now. Sparks flew and a great fire roared to life from deep inside, bringing new life to my voice,

"I don't care about your orders or who they came from," I snapped at the Templar, taking careful note of it's place in the narrow hallway, "I'm going to see my friend!"

My opposition stood slightly to the right, making the left side the best place to try and slip by. Taking no chances this time, I dove for the floor at the Protoss's right as I finished my sentence. The quick lunge took the calm warrior by surprise, and I just managed to roll to my feet and take off again without being snagged by the outstretched claw of a hand that tried to stop me. As soon as I knew I was loose, I poured my will into my feet and took off down the door-less corridor at a dead sprint. A few second's glance back, while I rounded the first corner, revealed the Templar leisurely strolling after me with it's long legs. In that short moment, the assassin disolved from sight in mid-step, rekindling my flight with the fear of being captured by the invisible alien. I faced forward again and raced ahead without looking back.

Around the next turn, my lone hallway divided off into four different directions. All I wanted, at the moment, was to get away from the stalking Protoss guard, so I hardly even slowed down to decide which passage to take. The next hall went by in a blur, but it opened to yet another junction just like the first. Again, I blew straight through without thinking about where my randomly chosen path actually led, but the persistent sound of my pursuer's foot falls had finally died to a dull tap in the distance.

To my dismay, the hall began sloping upwards once more, and to make things worse, I was already winded from sprinting so far. At last, the incline leveled out, but I was hardly rewarded for my effort. A few paces ahead, the corridor split in two opposite ways, but I couldn't go any further without catching my breath.

"...Now...which way?" I panted, leaning against the wall with one hand. As if it would do me any good, I turned and glanced back down the hall before taking off again. However, I only made two steps before stopping in my tracks.

There was a Ghost standing at the end of the corridor. Along with early footage of the zerg, abandoned records from the first Terran dominions were eventually found and pictures of the elite covert operatives had long been published in many history documents. This was obviously one of them. It silently stood there in full uniform, complete with ammunition belts, body armor, and a helmet full of gear that totally obscured this person's face. The Ghost even wielded the signature C-10 canister rifle that they were still infamous for.

"What the..." I gasped, still somewhat out of breath, "Who are you?! How did you get here?"

The quiet soldier remained perfectly motionless, staring me down without the slightest hint of a response to my rambling questions. Aside from the fact that every piece of equipment it had was kinda worn and badly dated, something was inexplicably different about the mysterious Terran that now stood in my path, but I simply couldn't place it. In the silent presence of the Ghost, the tell-tale sound of the Templar's footsteps could be heard drawing near once more, but this nameless soldier seemed to notice the noise as well. After suddenly motioning to me with the barrel of it's gun in the classic 'follow me' gesture, the operative turned from me and swiftly stepped out of view by taking the hallway on the left.

"Hey, what's going on here?" I yelled ahead while leaping into a run, but I didn't go far before stopping again. The distance the Ghost had traveled was literally stunning. It stood near the end of this passage in the same pose from the first time, as if it had been waiting there for me to catch up hours ago. In the split second that it was out of eye-shot, the soldier had apparently covered the entire length of the hallway; an impossible feat that sent chills up my spine. I did my best to shrug this feeling off and break into a sprint once more, deciding that following this unreal person had to be better than wandering through the carrier until the dark Templar found me.

"Man, this guy's fast!" I coughed, struggling to keep this person in sight as I raced through the labyrinth of dull yellow tunnels in pursuit. The Ghost never ceased to amaze me still. Every time I thought I was getting close, it would step just out of sight, repeatedly covering inhuman distances in a matter of seconds without the slightest sign of effort or fatigue. Consequently, I was always left behind, tailing the soldier down hall after hall. At long last, with my legs turning to rubber and my lungs raging for air, I stumbled to a halt where the Ghost had disappeared down a short, wide corridor.

"Aww...c'mon, buddy!" I complained, gasping and sputtering, "Another hill?!"

As much as I didn't like it, the last passage sloped upwards abruptly before opening to a large, circular area with great columns around its perimeter. Finally, the crazy soldier remained still as I trudged up to it's side at the top of the incline.

"I really hope all this was worth it..." I began to rant as I came to stand next to the tall, rifle-toting maniac, but he interrupted with a simple jerk of the head, gesturing towards the spacious room before me. I looked again and my heart leapt; Bane was there.

Unfortunately, this happiness was short lived. The hydralisk had it's back to me, motionlessly staring off into space through a long window on the opposite wall. Bane looked beaten and slumped, crushed by the unshakable weight of raw sorrow. I immediately began to think of some way, any way, to help my friend, when I suddenly thought of the Ghost again. It had led me to Bane.

"How did you know-" I began to say while turning to face this person once more, but he was gone.

The huge room I found Bane in seemed even bigger as I walked across its expanse to meet my friend on the other side. The hydralisk didn't make any move as I drew near, nor did it acknowledge me when I spoke,

"Hi-ya Bane!" I piped, trying to sound cheerful, "Where you' been all this time?"

Bane finally responded, but it was only with the same hurt stare that he gave me when I first asked what was wrong back on the dropship. As before, I was left powerless to say anything, and silence reigned for a few painful moments more.

"You haven't told any of the others...Have you?" I asked quietly, breaking the calm.

Following a heavy sigh, Bane's telepathic words graced my thoughts at last,

"...My friend...asked me not to go...But, Reece, I had no choice..."

Along with the words, traces of this sadness were left imprinted on my mind, and the very feeling made my insides ache.

"I-It's okay, Bane," I almost choked, unable to say anything else, "Everything will be okay..."

Another long moment of silence prevailed, until I could swallow the lump forming in my throat long enough to speak again,

"If there's anything I could do to help..." I began, but I let the sentence die.

Despite my expectations, this brought a tiny sliver of life back to the hydralisk's dull, crimson eyes,

"There was one other thing that Charley asked me to do before...I had to go,"

"What's that?" I rebounded quickly, happy to finally be able to do something to help Bane out of this hole.

"My friend told me that I should...learn to use your written language. Could you-"

"Sure, Bane," I interrupted on purpose, "I'll be glad to teach you."

To Be Continued...


	16. Bane 16: Fate's Intervention

Bane 16: Fate's Intervention

"So what say you, Rakeem?" Dair'Sar repeated, prodding the normally kind and forgiving teacher for the reason behind his continued hostility against the Terrans.

At last, the stubborn Templar backed his decision with sudden, spiteful words that broke the sublime calm of the Kalimar's command deck,

"Those creatures are a traitorous species! I cannot allow our mission to be jeopardized by the possibility of an unfounded attack-even if the cerebrate see's merit in their company."

"And what of the Terran child?" San'Dreale added, unsatisfied with his master's answers once again.

"The child shall remain under our protection to ensure Bane's freedom from the Overmind's influence," Rakeem said almost offhandedly, but the student interrupted, continuing to push the subject,

"I sense something odd about that Terran, Rakeem. When the child ran from me, it flew through the corridors of the ship, straight to the cerebrate-like knowledge of the Kalimar's layout is commonplace!"

"Either that," Dair'Sar cut in jestingly, in spite of the Templar's typically logical personality, "Or you were outwitted by a single Terran child."

"Outwitted?!" San'Dreale snapped in his own defense, "That little creature moved as if it were possessed!"

The familiar, pointless squabbles of his students softened the teacher's harsh temperament, but only enough to provoke San'Dreale further,

"Yet your orders were to stem any trouble that arises; why could you not simply escort the Terran back to the hangar, once you found where it had gone?" This made the young Templar go wide- eyed; astonished that his teacher would bother asking such a question,

"Taking the child WOULD have been a simple task, indeed," San'Dreale responded sarcastically at first, before turning a more serious tone with his telepathic voice, "But, dare you honestly ask me to challenge Bane's strength single-handedly in order to do so?"

"Although such news may bring pause to this highly productive exchange, I must announce our arrival in Mar Sara's orbital space," Dair'Sar announced sarcastically, quickly returning to the endless chore of technical duties. This revived the eldest Templar's resolve more still, and his next words rang with new purpose,

"Excellent work; begin thermal scans of the planet for zerg activity."

"I am already ahead of you, sir," the quick-witted being reported, "Sensors are reading the surface as we speak."

The Kalimar's bridge fell silent as the three awaited the results of their search, yet, San'Dreale refused to let the former subject die, speaking again only a few moments later,

"Was it not Terrans that managed to cheat fate and restore the use of your body?"

Both students were thinking the same question, but it took a fool's courage, on San'Dreale's part, to actually present it. However, the young Templar was rewarded with success, instead of the due punishment for persistently challenging his master's decision. Finally defeated, Rakeem dismissed the bothersome student with an exasperated wave of one hand,

"Very well! Find Teilon and go to the wretched Terran's; give them my compunctions! If they are unarmed and willing to present themselves as civilized beings, then they are welcome to join us on the bridge and be briefed on the situation."

"Without delay," Dair'Sar replied almost modestly before turning promptly, retreating to the safety of the main corridor to complete the command. For a few seconds more, silence returned, only to be broken again by a last minute comment from Dair'Sar,

"I believe you are growing soft in your old age, Rakeem."

"That's it! We've waited around in this stinkin' tub long enough!" The Terran leader finally roared, jumping up from his seat on a half-empty supply crate that was unloaded days ago.

"Whadaya mean, cap'n?" Kip yawned after having been startled out of an uneasy nap in the open rear of the dropship. Boss stormed up the ramp, spouting orders and nearly stepping on the sleepy mercenary before he could get out of harms way,

"I mean get off your ass and fire up the navigation computer! Find out where these alien dim-wits have taken us; we're getting outta here!"

"What about the kid, Boss?" T.J. asked, stammering up the incline in the shadow of his superior.

"Forget the kid!" Boss blurted as he dropped into the pilots seat, "He's got his pet hydralisk back now, so we've done our good deed for this decade. I'm gettin' us outta here before these lunatics fly headlong into another planet full of zerg!"

Kip was right behind the two, and slid into the copilots chair, flipping switches, to bring the Interceptor II online. The main screen flashed to life and he whistled before summarizing the initial diagnostics,

"It doesn't look too swift, Cap'n. This might not be a good time to say I told you so, but you probably shouldn't have passed that last orbital Stop-n-Rocket just outside Korhal. There's enough juice to get us off this ship and around in space for a spell, but the chances of a controlled re-entry anywhere look grim at best."

"How about the scanners?" Boss asked impatiently.

"No good," returned Kip's negative answer once more, "The array failed to penetrate the hull; I can't tell you squat about where we are."

"What's goin' on in here?!" The forth member of the group finally joined the others after abandoning his guard shift, leaving only Mosely outside.

"Shut up, Joe!" Boss barked, and seemed about to say something more, when the youngest mercenary spoke up again, interrupting another argument,

"HOWEVER, motion sensors are flickering back some occasional readings and there's enough to tell that this hulk is slowing down; maybe even stopping."

"Master Rakeem shall explain everything, provided you needn't your weapons to hear it."

The templar's telepathic voice was enough to take all the Terrans by surprise, but the sudden presence of the eight-foot alien warrior materializing among them caused a moment of shier panic.

"Do you blue bastard's make a habit of sneaking up on people?!" Joe barked as the group got its breath back.

"Why should we trust you?" Boss practically spat the words, "Your high-and-mighty 'Master Rakeem' wanted to throw us out like common space-trash and then left us here to rot for three days!"

The calm-faced Protoss wasn't phased by the verbal attack, speaking again with the same tone from before,

"Rakeem has also sent his apologies for his initial hostility; although I find it to be expected when your first action before him is a threat with your weapons."

"Look, buddy, we've already been through enough without more of your holier-than-thou attitudes!" Boss quickly began to lose patience again, and his voice gathered volume as it went,

"So, unless your big leader was planning to cough up some intel' about our current location, get off my ship! We're ditchin' this flying, yellow freak-show!"

Once more, the Templar was not dissuaded from his orders; presenting only the same stone face all the while, until T.J. barged in after his leader's last comment,

"I think what the cap'n is trying to say, is that we'd be glad to shoot the breeze before we pull out."

"Very well," Dair'Sar spoke again at last, "Has the child been in good care?"

"How should we know? He's been with the hydralisk all day," Boss still had some steam left, but then Joe spoke up too,

"That reminds me, Boss: the kid came back once a few hours ago; wanted to know if we had anything to write with."

Boss was taken back by the first half of the statement, but more so by the later,

"Why the hell would he need to manually write something for?"

"Dunno' really," Joe coughed , "Said' some hogwash about...teaching Bane to read."

The other mercenaries exchanged cross looks before a snicker leaked out from someone, causing the remaining Terrans to relent and erupt in laughter.

"Thanks, Joe!" Boss panted, wiping a tear from one eye, "I needed that! Teaching a hydralisk to read-that's rich!"

"...Planet," the hydralisk answered telepathically, adding emphasis with a low, verbal growl.

"Wow!" I exclaimed, "You're right again!"

Once we overcame the problems one runs into when trying to teach the verbal sound of each letter to a being that communicates by thought, Bane started learning at an accelerating pace. What most people would consider, at first sight, to be a mindless monster that only knows one thing, my friend was already mastering the basics on the first lesson, and teaching the hydralisk became incredibly simple; like feeding information to a computer.

"Okay, Bane, here's an easy one for you," I announced to the attentive armored beast that towered over me, "-More steam, please."

With another lung-full of hot air, Bane re-fogged a great spot in the long window of the Templar's training room and I began scribing the next letters on the makeshift chalkboard with one finger. However, even before I could finish the word, the hydralisk came up with the answer, and a half-hearted snarl of agitation,

"Machine!"

Without my asking, Bane fogged the window again, hastily destroying the troublesome combination of vowels and consonants. I laughed,

"Hey, I thought you'd like that one!"

"Unless it dispenses food on command or heals mortal wounds with a flashing light, no metal contraption impresses me," the hydralisk reported, motioning for me to continue the lesson with one scythe.

"Alright," I chuckled, starting the next word, "But this one's gonna be tough."

Without warning, Joe's rough voice echoed across the training hall, followed by a round of laughter from the rest of the mercenaries,

"Well lookie' what we got here; ya' sure don't see this every day!"

They were all suddenly there, escorted by a pair of the tall, deadly Templar, who failed to conceal their cross expressions at the sight of a four-foot child teaching script to a ten-foot hydralisk.

"Oh yeah?" I rebounded in Bane's defense, "Gimme a few more hours, and the aid of an information terminal, and this hydra' will be smarter than all of you clowns put together!"

"I'm afraid that is not possible," announced the telepathic voice of one of the Protoss, seeming almost frail in comparison to the one I'm used to intruding my thoughts, "Rakeem has requested word of everyone aboard immediately; we have arrived at our next destination."

Finally, one of those blue weirdo's said something interesting, and I couldn't help asking,

"What destination?"

"Mar'Sara's surface has been completely compromised," The lead Templar announced to the mix-and-matched group of Terrans, Protoss, and one zerg specimen that stood above the rest, "Our estimations are all too true; the zerg had arrived here long before us, and already, their forces occupy a substantial majority of the planet's territory and resources."

"What do they want?" I asked out loud as soon as the long-winded alien paused. Despite my expectations, the answer came in the form of a grim telepathic response from Bane,

"They're eliminating any Terran presence that could pose a threat to the Overmind's ultimate goal; while using the spoils of their planets to rebuild the swarms."

"Precisely," Rakeem agreed, "The peril to the new Protoss home world is undeniable now; Zeratul and his council will have no choice but to pay heed to this looming danger."

"Hey," Boss spoke up, still sour about having been cooped up in the hangar for three days,

"What about us? I'm still out a cruiser because of this whole fiasco; not to mention the Terran race is being wiped off the map while you blue-brainiacs sit on your hands! What's going on out there?"

As if by silent cue from Rakeem, Dair'Sar stepped in front of the group briefly, activating a hologram that showed a miniature, multicolored version of Mar'Sara.

"The zerg landed in this vicinity, and now control a majority of the planet, as indicated territorially here," Rakeem used one hand to indicate different areas of the red coloring that covered most of the globe before rotating the hologram and highlighting the few and scattered blotches of green, "The Terran military presence on this planet was the weakest of the three. Based on the magnitude of the attack on Tarsonis, we believe that the initial zerg landing, alone, crippled any chance of a successful retaliation."

"What happened to all those people?"

The Protoss described the situation as if they were reading a flat statistic; I didn't care if I was interrupting. Again, Dair'Sar stepped forward to the controls; causing the hologram of Mar'Sara to shrink as the picture zoomed out. Two nearby moons became visible, as well as a number of tiny, scattered objects orbiting around the planet itself. Rakeem continued,

"We have scanner confirmation that many of the inhabitants may have escaped; remaining Terran aircraft in the area and on the planet are practically non-existent, despite sufficient facilities left to support them."

"What about those?" Joe asked, stepping forward and pointing out a still group of specks with a lone orbital platform that looked almost untouched, or as much as it could for how small it appeared in the hologram.

"We believe it is a remnant of Mar'Sara's orbital fleet," Dair'Sar answered the final question, "Biological read-outs on the platform are inconclusive, yet no life was detected aboard the ships themselves."

"Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin', Cap'n?" Kip piped up after having been as quiet as Mosely all this time.

"I'm already ahead of you," Boss replied, speaking over my head, "How fast could you get one of them operational again?"

Kip wasn't wasting any time; he didn't even look up from the array of tools and electronics hanging off himself to respond,

"Depends on a few things, Cap'; condition of the reactor and power reserves, hull integrity, initial security level...about an hour tops."

"Betcha twenty credits that you'll eat those words," Joe intervened briefly, sounding almost cheerful in comparison to his mood since we left Korhal.

"It's settled then," Boss announced, "We're blowin' this popsicle-orbiter; get the Interceptor II ready to go as soon as we get back."

"But Boss, we only gots' four suits!" Mosely said something at last.

"Damn it, Mo', you're right. This means we'll be a man down, and three guns ain't much more than a pin-prick if we run into real trouble..."

The Mercenary leader trailed off as he turned to the group behind him and stopped when he reached Bane. Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on the hydralisk, who ultimately looked to me for an answer.

"Well," I practically croaked, "If you guys are just gonna leave me here, I could use a few supplies to tide me over..."

Boss didn't hesitate to take the offer,

"If Biggie can get us through that ship safely, you're welcome to anything on-board."

Finally, Bane shifted his gaze to Rakeem, who answered without the question having been asked,

"I have no further doubt in your judgement, Cerebrate; should you feel that this is the right path, you may go."

"Aw, C'mon, Boss! Can't we do two out of three?" The Mercenaries drew straws to see which one would be left behind, and TJ wasn't happy about waiting on the Kalimar while Kip took his spot. I looked away from the argument, focusing my attention on Bane once again.

"You already understand, don't you?" The familiar telepathic voice trickled through my thoughts. Bane was right, I already knew what he was going to say next.

"Yeah," I piped, having to crane my neck to speak face to face with the hydralisk, "I kinda guessed that you would want me to stay here. Just bring back an extra dropship with the supplies and we'll call it even; I've never had one of my own."

"Consider it done," came Bane's swift response, accompanied by a soft growl.

"And Bane," I broke down and said at last, "One more thing,"

The hydralisk rebounded with it's trademark, "Yes, mortal?"

"Be careful out there," I began to say more, but Boss walked over at this point and interrupted,

"If you two are done with your big, mushy good-bye, we gotta go while the going's still good."

I couldn't help giving the pushy mercenary leader my best 'eat-shit' look for being so inconsiderate, yet, he replied with a grin.

"It was nice knowin' you, too , kid! I might have to warn the rest of the groups about you; they'll have a little fire-ball on their hands in a few years-that is, if you don't get yourself killed hangin' out with these aliens, first."

With Boss suddenly displaying some level of understanding, I was left speechless for a few moments before I found a suitable reply,

"I'll take my chances."

The engines of the Interceptor two suddenly whirred to life, signaling an early end to an already-short conversation. Almost instantly, I began to feel sick; despite my best efforts to suppress the churning ball of anxiety. It must have showed on my face, because Boss spoke up once more, having to yell over the sound of the engines,

"Don't worry about it, Reece! We're pro's at this; we'll bring your pet Zerg back for good before you know it!"

Unable to find to words or the will to argue, I only nodded and offered a quick "Good luck!"to the departing mercenaries and their borrowed hydralisk escort. As I watched them turn from me and begin filing into the dropship, I couldn't shake the foreboding feelings that washed over me. However, I swallowed my instincts and waved a hand in the air when Bane stopped at the door and looked back at me. The hydralisk mimicked my movement with one scythe, making me laugh, before ducking out of sight through the low cargo door of the Interceptor two.

"Approach trajectory is good and power cells are holding; Scanners don't show anything that shouldn't be there," the youngest Terran informed from its place at the ships complicated controls , next to Boss,

"Bring er' in slow;" the Terran leader ordered, "There could still be zerg waiting out here. Speaking of which, you pickin' up anything that we should know about, Biggie?"

Deeply entangled in thought, I hesitated to answer the distant, verbal command given by the impatient, little creature, until it asked again,

"Hey! Are you asleep back there, or what, Bane?"

Alas, there was no further use in resistance; I broke my concentration long enough to offer the Terran what information I knew,

"Although the Overmind's direct will may be easily sensed, the broods in this sector are under control of a cerebrate. It is...difficult to determine it's motives with certainty. If any of my brethren remain on this platform, they are well hidden."

"Outstanding..."the lead Terran said sarcastically, before giving another order to the pilot, "Bring er' down over there, right on the welcome mat; I don't want to have to hike to this thing."

Boss released himself from the grip of his seat restraints and stood, speaking directly to the remaining mercenaries and I,

"Alrighty, boys and zerg, this is it. Stay sharp out there and stick together. I'm assuming that you'll have no problem talking to us in a vacuum, Biggie, but we'll be out of communication with you until we get inside. Even so, if something begins to smell out-of-place, give us a 'heads-up'."

I simply acknowledged the creature's commands by means of a short growl and an imitation of their nodding gesture that indicates I understood.

With an abrupt screech of it's stubby, metal feet, the ship lurched to a clumsy halt beneath my tail and the other Terrans stood as well; fully clad in their unwieldy armored suits.

"You got everything, Kip?" The Terran leader barked over one shoulder while picking up it's frail, metal weapon.

'Kip' was already waiting, holding a crude cloth sack stuffed with his collection of contraptions and gadgetry, "As I'll ever be, Cap'n."

After a moment's hesitation, Boss finally gave the next order,

"Visor's down!"

Upon command, the mercenaries actuated the face-plates on their helmets and the reflective domes slid into place with a hiss, serving as both their vital barrier and a fragile window to the outside. The Terran commander put one gloved hand to the ship's controls and an obnoxious buzzing noise sounded before the end of the craft opened to the unforgiving vacuum outside.

There was a brief roar of wind as the seal broke and the air rushed from the vessel, and my lungs, in a great cloud, long before the door was visibly open. Then, the ramp swung silently down to the steel grating of the platform below, and sound ceased to exist as the Terrans began plodding forward, out of the ship. As I followed the short, metal shrouded creatures into this new environment, I stopped to survey the area from the top of the incline.

This place was a dark, desolate one, hovering silently in the planet's shadow. The sprawling steel terrain felt lifeless and barren, despite the scattered pieces of unidentifiable wreckage and the uncountable number of pits from the Guardian's acid raids. Although having obviously been assaulted and devastated by my brethren, I was still awestruck by the shier size of the platform. The colossal mass of orbiting metal was so huge that it produced a force of gravity, however weak, all it's own.

Set on the edge of this gloomy, artificial world, an immense Terran ship loomed before us. It sat very close, ominously towering above with black windows and it's multitude of prone weapons.

Without warning, a series of images flashed across my thoughts, shattering any concentration on the area around me. Brief glimpses of the Terrans from different angles, turning and shifting with their guns, passed my mind's eye in an instant. Some of the foes appeared to remain at a distance, while others were closer still, but they all seemed to be staying any immediate attack.

Full focus on my own reality returned as quickly as it left, and I found myself still at the top of the ramp, with the mercenaries staring up at me.

"They are close," I explained, scanning the platform again for any sign of motion, "They watch our every move, yet, something holds them back."

The Terrans, although unable to respond to my words, radiated a sense of comprehension, thus I continued,

"The ship will provide some level of protection; Go, Now!"

Showing no further hesitation, the mercenaries turned from me and began the short race to the giant vessel a short distance away. Displaying surprising speed for creatures wrapped in metal, the Terrans leapt ahead without looking back, and I lunged down the ramp to catch up.

Silence and darkness were the only foes to cross our short path, yet I could feel the gaze of my brethren keeping us in constant check. The entrance to the battle cruiser lay just beyond a stubby, wide bridge that jutted from the platform to the shroud of a massive door, which remained locked tightly in place even as we approached.

The steel appeared to be impenetrably thick; too strong even for my blades. Kip, who was at the center of our escort, ran ahead, flinging his pack down and ripping it open. As I watched one of the other mercenaries help him pull a pair of metallic objects from the bag and attach them on either side of the door, the brood made it's move.

"The zerg approach!" I warned when the mental images from the zerg began to stir. The Terrans spun around with a start, surveying the area from behind their weapons. Kip still worked frantically, assembling the complicated array of machines required to gain access to the ship, while the remaining three watched and waited

Despite being outnumbered and unable to retreat, the Terran's portrayed little fear as they raked the mouth of our bridge with suit-lights beaming through the darkness that surely blotted their poor vision. Here, in the face of certain adversity, were creatures staying their ground when countless others would have faltered through panic and terror alone.

Perhaps there was still some valor left among Terrans, after all.

I moved forward, once again scouring the pitted terrain for some hint of carapace among the dull metal, yet, my brethren were careful not to be seen. Joe, Mosely and Boss followed me at a distance, sweeping back and forth with their lights. The bridge itself offered a slight advantage in the form of a bottle neck, but this would only buy a few seconds time at best.

A final, unnerving moment passed uneventfully, as if the zerg may actually stay at distance. However, such good fortune was not to be.

In an instant, members of the brood were everywhere, racing into view by the pair with bloodlust clouding their minds. The Terran's weapons flashed to life without a sound, seeming out of place as they silently spewed streams of hot led at our charging foes. Dozens of zergling stormed the bridge, head-long against the angry sheet of fire. The ones unlucky enough to be at the front of the assault were the first to meet death, taking the initial brunt of the mercenaries defense before being trampled beneath the claws of their brethren.

I let my needles fly, choosing only the closest targets in order to delay the inevitable melee battle. One enemy after another was torn by the bursts of poisonous spikes, sent spinning and tumbling in the low gravity environment, but the zerglings were gaining ground and a group of hydralisks appeared in tow, nearly in range to launch projectiles of their own. If one of the Terran's were assaulted, it would open a hole in their defense and the others would surely follow; an outcome I could not afford in the least.

Forgoing the time for a last shot, I lunged forward to meet the anxious claws of the brood with my own scythes outstretched in mid-strike. As my blades plunged down, crushing the first zergling to the unforgiving metal grating at my tail, I delved into the depths of my essence, recalling the roaring voices which were, before, only a whisper beneath the buzz of my own thoughts; the only chance to keep the mortals from harm.

"Nope; no fives," I reported almost mechanically as I stared at the colored metallic cards in my hands, "Go fish."

T.J. reached forward from his seat on the floor to the hap-hazard stack on the empty supply crate between us, and picked up another card from among many others, all with that strange word 'Blizzard' etched on the back side.

"Where'd you find these things, anyway?" I had to ask, curiosity had finally gotten the best of me after three rounds.

"They're Joe's lucky cards," T.J. replied, studying his new hand, "He picked em' up somewhere on Tarsonis a few years back."

"Is that so..." I asked absent-mindedly while I focused on the game again, "Got any Tassadar's?"

One Templar, Teilon by the fiery eyes, had remained in the great hanger even after the others left for the bridge. The tall alien observed the entire proceeding almost intently, and finally had something to telepa-communicate, interrupting T.J.'s 'Go Fish',

"Explain to me, the motive of this sport. Skill of any form appears to be irrelevant."

"That's the gust of it, Blue," the mercenary announced with enthusiasm, "It's all in the luck of the draw!"

"So much is more than obvious, yet, I still find no merit in the effort if-" Teilon's words halted abruptly and he turned away from us, staring off into the empty space of the great hangar. T.J. and I exchanged a confused look before the Templar returned to it's senses, speaking again, but in a different tone,

"The cerebrate has landed upon the target platform; Rakeem invites you to observe it's progress. Hurry, we must move quickly!"

Despite having been there once, the twisted paths that wound through the carrier still evaded my understanding as the swift-legged Protoss warrior led T.J. and I to the bridge for the second time. Unlike any other passage in the ship, the threshold to this area was guarded by a translucent blue energy field that disappeared as Teilon approached and remained down to allow us passage before flashing back to life. Our escort stalked ahead, joining the rest of the Protoss around the hologram podium. I followed slowly, with the mercenary in tow, until I stood among the towering aliens.

"What's going on down there? Are they okay?" I asked, staring in confusion at the three dimensional image of a Terran docking platform just like any other.

"We have tracked your vessel to this quadrant," Rakeem's telepathic words pushed their way into my thoughts while the Protoss adjusted the view, bringing a small portion of the orbital platform into focus.

This area appeared to be a total wreck; heaps of debris and numerous craters in the metal made it almost impossible to distinguish the lone dropship from among the terrain. The only things that stood out with any real contrast was a set of colored blips, four green and one red, that wove through the wreckage.

"Is that Bane?" I asked, leaning over the edge of the podium to point out the lone crimson dot in the hologram.

"Yes ," the Templar answered with obvious agitation when my hand distorted the picture, "All energy signatures are accounted for and active..."

Rakeem paused as the image was zoomed back out once more, revealing a virtual ring of red that sealed the area, trapping the mercenaries and their hydralisk escort on the docking bridge for the dormant battle cruiser they intended to commandeer,

"Though not a single foe was detected before, multiple zerg signals appeared as the Terran vessel approached. For reasons unbeknownst to us, the brood has not made a move to attack as of yet; but surely even this small grace cannot last."

T.J. matched my 'You have to help them!'word for word, although the concern present in each voice was for different members of the party.

Dair'Sar, usually the most docile of the Templar, joined the exchange with telepathic words of his own,

"The Kalimar is closing the distance to interceptor range at maximum sub-warp speed, however, if the zerg attack now, our weaponry would be of little use."

"Hey," I piped, noticing a change in the hologram, "They've reached the ship; they stopped!"

Suddenly, all eyes were on the map, watching helplessly to see what happened next-and something did.

Three of the green blips turned back, following Bane, the red one, to the mouth of the dock.

" Bane knows the zerg are there," I whispered, surprised at the confidence in my own voice, "I can feel it."

My heart dropped as the line of zerg signatures unexpectedly lurched forward in unison. We all flinched at the sight of this, but not a word was said; there was nothing we could do to help. Those few, agonizing seconds dragged out as the blips closed in, then, inexplicably, the hologram began flickering.

The Protoss looked among each other in bewilderment when the lights and alien navigation equipment faded before suddenly blacking out completely. A few unsettling moments passed in total darkness before the power started returning to normal.

"What happened there?" T.J. complained, "Did we trip a breaker or something?"

"It is the same energy from before, on Korhal," Teilon commented out loud, ignoring the blabbering mercenary.

"Indeed," Rakeem replied urgently, eyes burning an intense blue, "Prepare all interceptors for immediate deployment; target the swarm as soon as the Kalimar draws within range!"

The OverMind's will whipped and tore at my locked mind, fighting to take control whilst I gathered a piece of its raw hate for myself, flinging it against the broods around me. Though my senses were left dull and muffled after the brief mental struggle, the effects of my efforts immediately became apparent. The organized charge of my brethren instantly dissolved as they turned for me with eyes alight in a blind rage, ignoring the Terran weaponry outright and practically trampling one another in an insane mass attack.

A pair raced in; the next to meet both blades in the brunt of mid-swing. One was dealt swift death while the other reeled from the combined weight of the assault and the reeling slain. However affective the offense, I was left only time enough to bring my scythes back again, cleaving into a new group of foes that hastily replaced the fallen.

My swing stopped short, bogged down by the wall of carapace and blades that tried to flatten me. I staggered, nearly toppled beneath the momentum of the charging brood and the grating pain of their scythes stabbing and scrabbling at my carapace. Heaving with all my strength, I hurled a number of them aside, but I found one arm arrested, clamped in the jaws of the zerglings that managed to stay afoot.

Blocked by the tangled, thrashing mob of their brethren, zergling began leaping over one another, manic to fulfill their bloodthirsty urges.

To my relief, timely streams of flying led pelted the airborne assailants, pushing them off course for a crash landing among their fellow brood-members, but spines from the hydralisks rained down in volleys now, chipping and piercing my armored exoskeleton as I faced the next wave of zergling with one arm still locked in the grip of the first.

Even as I reared my free blade against the small, fierce creatures, I knew that I could not stand against their numbers for long; soon they would succeed, finally satisfying the mad impulses that clouded the Over Mind's commands. Yet, this was not my fate.

A hot, white light consumed my senses, but I could feel the pain and outrage of my brethren as my wits returned. I found myself on my backside, among the mangled bodies of the zerglings. A wing of yellow craft circled overhead, firing orbs of blue energy into the frothing brood, where they exploded into plumes of fire. Despite the devastating barrage from the interceptors, the surviving zerg still held fast to the blind rage, rushing around the columns of flame and over the slaughtered to finish me.

I tried to rise once more, to face the enemy even though my vision still spun from the blast of the Protoss weaponry and pain wracked my mind from injuries I had yet to be fully aware of, when a set of metal-shrouded hands suddenly gripped me under each arm. I remember having enough bearing to be surprised as the Terrans dragged me away from the battle, back towards the ship.

Boss strafed out, between the pursuing zerg and I, firing his weapon frantically at the hydralisks that tried to follow us, until, at long last, a massive pair of steel slabs slid into place, locking the chaos outside.

The blades of my brethren fell on the doors like rain, resounding noisily as the area filled with air again. As if on cue, the Terrans opened their suit visors, revealing panting faces damp with sweat,

"What..." Boss choked, jerking a clip out of his weapon and letting it clatter to the floor, "...What the hell happened back there?!"

"I dunno, Boss," Joe gasped in reply , "I thought for sure the zerglin's were gonna come right for us, then they just lost it!"

Using their combined effort, Mosely and Joe, who had initially towed me to safety, helped me stand, but a searing hurt erupted from my shoulder. Although I could not see it myself, I could sense the poison from the needle spines pulsing through the vulnerable muscle fiber there. I hadn't the energy to suppress a snarl of pain and the Terran leader noticed the source,

"Mose!" Boss barked, pointing at me, "Give Biggie a little first aid, would you?"

When he was sure I could stay upright on my own, Joe stepped to one side, to let Mosely inspect the pair of barbed spikes lodged in my body. The Terran fearlessly moved closer, and seemed about to reach up and grab the spines with both metal gloved fists, when it stopped briefly and looked up to me first,

"Diz' might sting some..."

Then, without hesitation, the quiet mercenary grasped the end of the needle spines with both hands and jerked with startling speed and strength.

I snarled involuntarily when the studded, green projectiles were violently ripped from of my carapace. Warmed blood oozed from the puncture wounds, running down my tail, but the throbbing wound eased and rational thought returned once again,

"My gratitude is yours..." I growled, recovering my composure.

The stone-faced mercenary studied the spikes in his hands for a moment before letting them drop to the floor, replying nonchalantly,

"Anytime."

"You gonna be alright, Bane?" A glint of concern leaked through Boss's strictly-business attitude as the Terran watched me rise to my full height again.

"Do not trouble yourself with my safety," the words came slowly at first, taking extra concentration as I forced the last of the pain to the back of my mind, "Time is of the essence; we must move forward."

"Very well," the Terran leader announced, hefting his weapon to the ready position once more, "Joe, you and Mose' get to reactor control. We need juice on the wire and we need it fast-take Biggie with you. Start the emergency power and double-time it to the bridge; we'll meet you there."

Responding with a 'You got it, Cap'n' and a nod, respectively, the said mercenaries stood aside as Boss and Kip trudged by, disappearing down the main corridor. At last, Joe looked up to me and asked the final question,

"Can you still do that can-opener trick?"

"I shall not repeat myself," I growled, irritated with the continued doubt in my well-being.

"Fair enough," Joe showed little notice of my heightened aggression, turning to lead the way, "Let's go!"

Screeching with the rip of tearing metal, the third hatch gave, mangled from its hinges by my blade's edge and the force of my strength behind them.

"Great work, strong-arm!" Joe laughed, watching as I heaved the dispatched door to one side and jerked my scythes free in a single motion, letting it crash to the grated floor, "That should be the last one-take five; we'll handle it from here."

The mercenaries stepped past me once more, entering the new area with suit lights sweeping into the darkness. I followed, only to discover with much distaste, this room to be the most cramped little Terran enclosure yet, rivaling even their wretched elevator boxes. Bulky, lifeless equipment occupied most of the free space, lining each wall and even hanging from the low ceiling that I was already forced to slouch under.

"Let's see here," Joe mumbled, searching among the instruments and machines for something; completely oblivious to my obvious discomfort, "It's gotta be here somewhere-damn Mar Sarian cruisers! Mose! You found the emergency power yet?!"

"Nope..." the near-silent Terran reported calmly while shifting from one panel to another. Trapped in this tiny place and my promise to help, I could only growl in exasperation as the fumbling creature's groped around for what it was they sought.

"Ah-ha!" Joe announced, not a moment too soon, "Here it is!"

The Terran reached to a set of complicated controls, just like any other, and pulled down a single lever. In an instant, the multitude of machines surrounding us flashed to life, humming as their lights flickered and screens glowed with torrents of irrelevant information that, thanks to Reece's lesson's, I could now catch glimpses of and decipher.

Without warning, the floor seemed to lurch beneath my tail. A sudden movement from the left caught my attention and I found the wall there to be made of glass. Beyond it was a huge space with an enormous hulk of machinery as its centerpiece. It was riddled and tangled with hoses and cables that led away, deep into the reaches of the ship. Something inside of it slowly spun to life, and as it did, lights everywhere began flicking on, eagerly drawing from the mounting power.

"That's that," Joe reported, picking up his gun from where it was previously propped against one wall, "The reactor's online-let's see what the Cap'n and Kip can do with it."

I backed out of the tiny room, as I was unable to turn around inside, allowing the mercenaries to lead the way once more. They passed without a word, taking the same paths from wench we came, yet I remained for a moment more.

Still awed that the fragile, precariously balanced mechanism actually works and the fact that all Terrans place their lives in the same clumsy metal hands, I lagged behind and stared down the complex array of controls wedged in their impassable crack in the wall.

As I brewed over this, a new thought spoke up, countering all my judgement of the defenseless creatures who so depend on their steel shells and hapless contraptions:

'You now rely on those metal hands as well.'

I growled again, turning to join the mercenaries, but I could not stop a more familiar phrase from crossing my mind first,

"I hate machines..."

"I hope you're not short on cash, old man-those twenty credits are as good as mine!"

As soon as the elevator doors parted, revealing a large, dimly lit room, Kip was already gloating, but Joe's counter did not lag,

"We'll see about that, boy! There's only nine minutes left for you and this tub hasn't moved yet."

"Would you two give it a rest?!" The mercenary commander reprimanded with crossed arms, which looked almost comical when one considers the constrictive powered suit.

Tuning out the quarrelsome soldiers, I focused on this new area of the ship. The bridge appeared to be a Terran version of the one onboard the Kalimar. More confusing controls filled every podium and panel, all facing forward where a wide window offered a panoramic view of the deep reaches of space outside.

The orbital platform was not visible, however, silently hanging some distance away in the cold void, Rakeem's carrier waited, hidden by the San'Sor's cloak but revealed through my keen cerebrate-senses.

Kip was on the floor, laying half inside one of the machines and tangled with its innards,

"That should be the last bypass," the youngest mercenary announced confidently while wriggling free of the clinging wires and cables, "Give it a shot, Cap'n."

Boss unfolded his arms long enough to reach over and throw a number of switches, feeding life to the control deck.

"Damn," Joe swore as the lights flickered on and the numerous screens frantically displayed their information.

"Don't take it too hard, Joe," Kip laughed as he stepped to one of the terminals, "You would have won if you didn't use Bane as a skeleton key."

"I'm going to knock your heads together if you two can't stifle it," the Terran leader practically yelled, losing patience, "Kip! Gimme a status report; how long until the engines are warmed up?!"

The youngest Terran proceeded to rap at the buttons before him, spouting the results as they came,

"With the exception of a few door locks in reactor control, everything checks out okay. The navigation and avionics systems are nearly online and-hey! Check these out," Kip tapped on the glass with a metal-gloved finger, signifying his find,

"She comes fully loaded with a complete hangar set, including four class-A armored transports, two remote recon' units and a matching wing of upgraded wraith fighters-even though none of us can competently fly one."

"Unbelievable!" Boss exclaimed, jumping over to read the facts for himself, "We've hit pay-dirt, boys n' zerg, great work!"

Apparently trying to ignore the excitement, Kip continued to read out loud,

"Warp drives are starting up, but the core won't be hot for a least twenty-"

The young mercenary stopped short, as did we all, when an unexpected flash of light consumed the senses.

Where the San'Sor once was only moments ago, an angry mass of blue fire erupted next to the Kalimar. Two unknown carriers moved to each side of Rakeem's ship, all three with plasma shields rippling they absorbed the shock and debris from the explosion. I turned from the sight; I need not see anymore, and my own fiery glare shone back at me through the eyes of the mercenaries,

"Take me back!"

"What happened-what's going on down there?!" I asked again, my voice growing in volume. Three Templar, and even T.J., watched the hologram without blinking. Nothing was moving, and the silence was driving me mad. I reached across the high podium as far as I could, waving my hand through the image to break their deadlock on it,

"Hey-I'm still here," I shot back as everyone finally noticed me with looks of annoyance, "What's happening?!"

"During the confusion of the attack, the Terran energy signatures became obscured and vanished shortly after, along with that of the cerebrate," Rakeem answered at last, turning back to the hologram, "Dair'Sar is scanning the interior of the nearby ship for the missing energies. However, what eludes me further, is the reason why, despite sufficient forces to do so, the brood made no attack against our interceptors-not a single hit."

"Indeed," the Protoss across from me agreed, adding to his teacher's words, "It's as if they were uncontrollably attracted to something..."

"Bane..." The name that was burned into my mind seemed to utter from everyone at once, catching me by surprise,

"W-what do you mean?" I stuttered, even though the answer was right in front of me, "Are you saying that Bane is some kind of zerg-magnet?"

"That's what it looks like, kiddo," T.J., usually the noisiest single entity in any given situation, spoke up after an unusual stretch of silence, "And if I had to guess, I'd say that it saved the boys from some pretty nasty scratches, too."

"From certain death," Rakeem corrected, and seemed about to say more, when Dair'Sar interrupted with the news we were all hoping for,

"Scans of the ship are complete, and all five energy signatures are accounted for and active-four Terran and one zerg!"

If protoss could sigh, they would have loosed a big one just then.

"The Khala be blessed; they still live!" The Templar leader exclaimed as the image of the Battle Cruiser blew up and became transparent, revealing the individual blips inside.

Without warning, everything turned white. The angry light seemed to be everywhere, blinding me as I held my hands up in attempt to block it out. Slowly, it began receding and my eyes adjusted to the intense body of blue fire that lit the bridge and filled the Kalimar's wide view of space. An obscene little alarm rang out several times, adding to the sudden chaos of bridge, second only to Rakeem's booming telepathic voice,

"What happened-where is the San'Sor?!"

"Gone," Dair'Sar replied with the same shock and confusion as his commander, "It's sensors last reported huge fluctuations in the energy reserves before the signal-"

Then, after doing a prefect Protoss-double take, real fear was more than prevalent in Dair'Sar's next statement,

"The Nekrethal and her sister ship have been detected in our airspace-they're moving alongside and broadcasting on the command range!"

Rakeem was taken back by this unexpected news, actually hesitating before giving the next command,

"...Accept the transmission."

The fire from the explosion dissipated into the void of space, and an eerie silence prevailed briefly before the hologram of the battle cruiser vanished, instantly changing to a dark, mouthless face, shrouded in swirling, red energy. It resembled something Protoss, or something that once was Protoss, but was now left twisted by the touch of some unworldly power.

"Dramier..." Rakeem paused once more, searching for the words, "Only you have such talent for appearing at the most inconvenient of times."

The Zerg had their own highly-affective form of direct intimidation-with their rows of jagged teeth, metal piercing blades and some with hulking size to back it up, but even the biggest bug couldn't match this. Just its voice was enough to invoke terror; it was like two protoss speaking in near unison, but between them, the words seemed to scream, moan, and whisper all at once as they rang through my mind, leaving hot trails of malevolence in their echoing wake,

"Only you, Praetor Rakeem, have such lack of respect and abundance of heedless wit in the face of authority. Do you not realize that you and your students are charged with treason for disobeying direct orders from Zeratul himself?!"

"Dramier, please listen to me," Rakeem spoke slowly and calmly, trying to reason with this fiery creature, "We have witnessed widespread destruction fall on this sector at the hands of the zerg in only a matter of days; action must be taken now, while our own people are still able to strike!"

The Templar's plea bounced harmlessly off the being now known to me as Dramier like so many bullets from Bane's carapace. It's expressionless face remained unmoved as it spoke again,

"Unlike you, I shall not be dissuaded from my orders and lead innocent others down the same path on the basis of wanton lies and deception."

"Deception?!" Rakeem scoffed back, "How can one who tricked a young, ignorant Templar into the sacred rites of melding just to gain the power and rank of the Dark Archon speak to me of deceit?!"

Again, this 'Dramier' maintained its composure, but the eyes burned intensely, hinting at the raw malice contained inside,

"Tell me, Praetor Rakeem," the angry entity practically spat the word 'Praetor', "Before I take permanent control of the Kalimar, myself, and storm the ship with every standing warrior, has your mad quest come to an end? Have you found something besides the two miserable vermin I see before me-this...free-willed cerebrate, as you claimed?"

Rakeem paused for a moment, looking to each of his students in turn, then finally, to me, before facing the hologram once more and answering calmly,

"No... No, I have not."

The Archon glared through the picture, its scorching eyes reduced to slits as it considered Rakeem's claim with chilling words,

"If you lie, I shall see that you regret it, Praetor; for soon, your every living memory shall be mine! ANY attempt to escape or resist shall result in deadly consequences."

Just as suddenly as it came, the unnerving image of the Dark Archon blinked out unceremoniously, leaving the bridge in a cold silence. Only after a long moment, the eldest Templar finally broke the calm once more,

"You have known, my students, of this possibility long before our mission began, yet I offer the choice again. There may still be a chance to save creation from the zerg, but should you still decide to follow me, we may never witness another moon rise on our home planet; if you wish to surrender to the judgement of the council, the time is now."

The Templar exchanged slow, solemn looks before Dair'Sar spoke for all three pupils,

"Such a choice was made long ago, Master Rakeem, and since we have bore witness to the feats of this Hero...of Bane, that choice is only made more resolute, and we stand behind it with our lives."

"Then it is settled," Rakeem announced gravely, "Though it means turning blades against our own brethren, we fight-or all may be lost!"

"But how?" T.J. finally said something since the San'Sor first exploded, and again, the bridge was struck speechless when it suddenly hit me. Then, the words seemed to leave my mouth on their own,

"We go to them."

The sudden pressure of all the eyes that turned my way made me hesitate, but I soon found my voice once more,

"There's only one way on board this ship-I say we go to the hangar and take the fight to them."

Despite my expectations, the first question didn't test my strategy, but my knowledge of the carrier, and Dair'Sar was fast asking it,

"How do you know that?"

Brief images from my memory hinted at the clear, vivid picture of the universe and then the Kalimar that Bane shared with me. With the immeasurable fathom of space as a backdrop, every bend and curve of the looming vessel was blatantly obvious.

"I got a real good look at it," I fired back confidently, yet, the Templar still seemed appalled that I even said anything in the first place. Teilon spoke next, stating what everyone was about to yell at me,

"Were you not paying attention?! Dramier is going to take control of the Kalimar-our cloak will be nullified by the carrier's interior sensors and we would be hopelessly outnumbered by the militia alone; much less while facing the crippling power of a Dark Archon!"

The alien's harsh telepathic words crashed against my thoughts, but I didn't flinch under the bombardment, rebounding with a strong reply of my own,

"Bane will come back, and soon-if not before this Dramier shows up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we'll have a better chance if we fight together!"

I could still feel the doubt and fear in the others around me, but something different edged Dair'Sar's tone as the Protoss added its thoughts,

"Drameir is coming aboard expecting confrontation; perhaps the alternative will be such a shock that it will buy enough time... "

Before long, that something found its way to Rakeem, who replied with renewed hope,

"Reece is correct, my students, if there is any possibility of challenging Dramier, it is with the cerebrate at our side!"

"The risk is so great," San'Dreale considered telepathically-out-loud, "But it is the only option; tell us what we must do!"

"Our time is short now, thus I'll be breif," the Templar leader explained hastily, "Once Dramier has control of the Kalimar, speak nothing of the cerebrate, and stay any attack until the very last. Come, let us act now, while the path is still free,"

Rakeem paused once more, motioning for us to follow before turning from the hologram and finishing,

"And above all else, protect the child at any cost."

The sobering trek back to the hangar seemed like the longest five minutes of my life, and second thoughts jammed my mind like rush hour traffic. Would it have been better to hide? Or to take the chance and flee? What would happen if everything went wrong? How would we escape?

Only one thing held it all together and forced me to put one foot in front of the other: The hope that Bane could, somehow, make it right.

The great, open space of the carrier's bay came all too soon, making my stomach wrench into tight knots of dread. The place was empty yet, and it sat in eerie silence with robotic assembly line and interceptors motionless. Just to our right, in the middle of the floor, an empty supply crate still served as a prop for T.J.'s rifle and held the hand of cards we threw down before following Teilon to the bridge.

Without warning the Kalimar rocked beneath my boots, threatening to topple me to the floor as a wave of energy rushed against my body like a gale. Every limb turned to rubber and I began to black out, however, reality never really drained away completely. Despite my expectations, I found myself still on my feet, albeit weaving, when my vision returned, but the ship seemed to be in the last stages of distress. Many lights in the hangar faded and flickered and the deck trembled underfoot. Then, just as suddenly as it began, everything apparently returned to normal.

I heard some movement and was surprised to see T.J. had fallen to one knee, and his speech was slurred as he rose shakily to full height,

"Whathe' hell was that?"

"It is done," Rakeem answered grimly, "The Kalimar is no longer ours."

The other Templar only nodded silently, not giving anything away to the ship's now-traitorous sensors. I was simply awestruck that a single being could possess such power, even for the likes of the Protoss, but Dair'Sar's next statement quickly rekindled the fear,

"They approach already..."

"Impossible!" Teilon blurted in disbelief, "Mind control depletes the reserves of even the greatest Archons; surely Dramier would not risk coming aboard without energy and shields!"

"He would not," Rakeem's telepathic reply put the chilling reality of the situation into words that everyone knew, but no one wanted to hear,

"Something is not right."

Much to our dismay, Dair'Sar's senses proved correct. At the very end of the hangar, where the launch tunnel turned to the open space outside, a yellow vessel appeared in the distance. In moments, another came into view, followed by a third and a forth. At first, they were so far out that I could hardly recognize the objects as ships at all, but the shuttles approached at high speed, growing in detail and filling the bay with the whine of their engines as they closed on us rapidly.

The crafts passed the interceptor bays and lined out to our left, buffeting me with their combined thruster blasts and unbearable noise before finally hovering down to rest with their main doors facing us. At last, the turbulence relented when the shuttle's engines died out, but it brought no comfort. My insides ground against itself and my feet shuffled nervously beneath me, ready to bolt on their own at any second; everything in me screamed to hide, yet, whether I wanted to or not, it no longer mattered. Time was up.

The main hatches broke their seals and parted simultaneously on each shuttle, releasing their deadly cargo. Although the tall aliens that stormed out in battle armor and formed a perimeter with psionic weapons gleaming somewhat resembled Rakeem and the other Templar, something was amiss about them. They lacked the usual effortless grace of the Protoss; moving with jerky, almost mechanical steps and expressionless faces that stared ahead without blinking.

All counted, thirteen double-bladed warriors lined up before us, leaving only four or five paces between their ranks and ours. Without a command being given, they began parting, revealing another Protoss being in long, ceremonial-looking robes that trailed a foggy apparition of itself as it drifted ahead, and, finally, the creature from the hologram in all its terrifying power.

Encircled in a swirling mass of unearthly flame, Dramier ghosted forward with gloating words that scrabbled against my mind like a driven rain,

"I would not believe the likes of this had I not witnessed it myself! Could it be that the wayward Praetor Rakeem has turned back to the light after so many moons of searching for what cannot be found?"

Floating in its bubble of fiery, red energy, this thing, that could compete in height with Bane, terrified me, yet the stalwart Templar leader didn't seem to be phased by the malevolent, piercing words,

"Only three to one, Dramier? I thought you would have come on board with better odds than this."

The weight of the Archon's mind lifted briefly as its foul laughter rang through my head,

"Does your wit have no end, Praetor? Rest assured, I have more than enough at my disposal to bring you and your fledgling Templar to justice."

Dair'Sar spoke up this time, scoffing before his teacher had the chance to do the same,

"How can one so shrouded in evil speak to us of justice?"

"Evil?!" Dramier's telepathic voice shot back, rattling the thoughts, "What evil have I done?"

"You are steeped in treachery," Rakeem responded calmly, but coldly, "Even now, as I look into the eyes of the once-noble warriors before me, I see only your dark intentions."

"Well met," the Archon replied with some kind of twisted sarcasm, "Is there anything else?"

"Yes," Rakeem added, "Even that High Templar you have in tow is enslaved to your will."

"Very good," Dramier sneered, "But you failed to note the full purpose of this being."

"No..." Rakeem practically gasped with his telepathic voice, "You cannot employ the light energy of the Khala in substitute for what you lack of the dark; the mix of power is too great for any mind to control!"

"WRONG!" the dark Archon's reply crashed against my thoughts, nearly making me stagger as the gnarled words flooded in, "You are just like Zeratul's beloved council; doubting even until the very last! I'll show you-I'll show them all!"

Dramier's outburst took everyone aback, leaving Rakeem with only one thing to say,

"You have already gone mad ..."

"Have I?" Dramier shot back, raising one arm toward us, "Perhaps a demonstration of my control is in order!"

Without hesitation, a wave of energy surged against us and San'Dreale buckled, grabbing his head with both hands. The angry power that raged against my mind must have been overpowering for the young Protoss it was targeting, but Rakeem's voice struck out, against the mental noise,

"We have no choice; fight, my students!"

Activating long, crackling blades, the three remaining Templar leapt forward to meet Dramier's zealots in mid-swing, but their blows were never to connect. The psionic buzz in the air suddenly lashed out, tearing at my senses in a single, collective burst until I could feel, hear or see nothing. When the world began to fade back into my vision, I found myself laying on the deck, unable to move beneath some great energy that rendered my limbs lifeless, yet, I was startled more to find Rakeem and his Templar pinned as well. I couldn't move enough to see T.J., but I could tell by the swearing that he was also suffering from the same mental barrage I would come to know as maelstrom.

Held in a kneel by the telepathic assault, Rakeem struggled to look up as Dramier left the ranks of his zealots and stood above the Templar leader with gloating laughter,

"You have my gratitude, Praetor, for further justifying my actions in the eyes of the council with the likes of your vain attack, but now, you shall watch as the minds of those who follow you are crushed into the abyss of oblivion!"

Rakeem's eyes blazed with a furious light as he grappled with the Archon's greater psionic strength, fighting for the ability to move a single arm for a strike at the enemy that was so close. Then, without warning, San'Dreale grew still and stood slowly before calmly moving to join Dramier's line and stare back at us with the same flat gaze and pale, featureless eyes of the zealots.

I should have been utterly petrified to a new, horrifying level, but, an eerie calm held my thoughts together and gave me courage. Suddenly, renewed hope surged up, fighting against the numbing barrage of the Dark Archon as I realized what this meant.

"You see, Praetor," Dramier began again, "There is no merit in resisting, for I-"

The Dark Archon stopped in mid-sentence, staring off into space before turning back to Rakeem with a new tone to it's telepathic voice,

"So, you are not above treachery, yourself, Rakeem! It seems that you have found more allies than meets the eye..."

Without ordering any one in particular, Dramier made the critical decision that held the outcome of our makeshift plan in the balance,

"Tell the interceptors to hold their fire; it would not be courteous of me to exclude any of Rakeem's guests from the proceedings."

I could hardly believe the words that barged into my mind, but Dramier seemed to remain totally confident, still bragging over Rakeem's still, but struggling form,

"Tell me again, Praetor," the Archon began once more, "What else have you found on your wayward journeys? More scum of the likes I see before me?"

Rakeem didn't answer, or if he did, I couldn't pick it up as the Templar's eyes only burned ever brighter.

"Very well," Dramier turned from us, moving to join his growing number of followers, "I shall know the truth soon enough."

Because I was still pinned to the floor, the whine of the dropship's engines could be heard long before it was visible over the squad of zealots and rows of machinery occupying most of the bay, but the high pitch of the thrusters was unmistakable; they were closing in fast and didn't appear to be slowing down. At last, the ship came into view, however briefly, bee-lining for the Dark Archon and it's minions as it crested the end of the interceptor assembly line.

Dramier flung his mental energies forth yet again, crippling the sensitive circuitry that kept the craft aloft. The would-be battering ram sputtered twice and dropped out of the air like a brick in the carrier's artificial gravity, all but nose-diving to the deck of the Kalimar. Sparks erupted in a brief, brilliant fountain and the ear-piercing screech of armor plates shredding one another rang out on impact as the ship skipped once before coming down for good, grating the last of it's momentum away in a long slide. Silence prevailed for a moment or two after the hapless dropship rolled lazily onto her starboard side with a final gasp of inertia, only a dozen paces from Dramier and his waiting squad of zealots.

Once again, the mindless sentries moved without any noticeable signal from their twisted leader; five remained with Rakeem and the Dark Archon and the remaining eight marched to form a half ring at the rear cargo door of the craft. Because the ship had turned slightly before flipping over, I only had a profile view of the unfolding action, but it was just as well; immediate ballistic aggression was a certainty.

"Let us see what else you have found," Dramier stated sarcastically, releasing the maelstrom enough for the dropship to regain power. Seconds later, the whimper of the cargo door could be heard as it opened sideways, but the passengers weren't here to talk.

The moment the hatch slammed home, gunfire belched from the open craft, spraying the zealots with led just before they charged in unison. Boss and the mercenaries stepped out of the dropship, two by two, firing their rifles indiscriminately and plasma shields responded with ripples of dull blue; absorbing round after round as the double-bladed aliens closed the short gap in a few strides. Even with the element of surprise, four Terrans didn't have a prayer against so many zealots, however, the mercenaries were not alone.

Half a ton of bad news surged out of the overturned dropship with needle spines flying and scythes reared for battle, but it wasn't a second too soon. The mercenaries backpedaled, bolting for the relative safety of the dropship just as the deadly psionic weapons lashed out for them. Bane crash-landed into the frothing mob with all his momentum behind his blades, bringing them down on a single, unlucky warrior in the center. From among those flickering in time to the constant gunfire, the bright flash of a dead. plasma shield dazzled the eyes and one of the Zealots sprawled to the deck on its backside, bearing a pair of long, cavernous gashes in it's body armor.

For a fraction of a second, the Protoss actually hesitated while the single mind that controlled them was temporarily stunned; until the victim of Bane's assault dissolved in a whirlwind of blue energy. Then, the seven remaining zealots attacked from all directions.

Bane had only enough time to defend one side, bringing both scythes back to the right, where they clashed against psi blades and shields alike. Three zealots staggered beneath the hydralisk's ferocious swing, but the others lunged for Bane's unprotected side. A timely barrage of concentrated gauss fire from Boss and the crew pelted the offending zealots, slowing them down more than dealing damage, but the meager seconds it bought was all that my friend needed.

Turning faster than anything so big should be able to move, Bane spun around, throwing one scythe against the flurry of psionic weapons in a wide horizontal slice with the other right behind in a wicked uppercut that broke through the middle.

A second zealot toppled to the floor, but with a gory canyon parting its neck and mouthless face this time. Then, Dramier's temper suddenly returned,

"ENOUGH!" The Dark Archon's torturous telepathic voice boomed as it's energy swept forth once again. The maelstrom could almost be seen; resembling a shockwave in the air, and it plowed the mercenaries over like a spring-loaded trip line. They could be heard clattering to the floor of the dropship in their power suits-someone's gun even tumbled out of the craft's open hold. However potent the mental attack, it totally failed to affect Bane, who narrowly slung his blades in the path of the first trio of zealots that had returned to burry their searing daggers in the beast's exposed side.

Following another silent command from Dramier, the remaining sentries joined the fray, racing to replace those who had fallen as the hydralisk fought on alone. Without the storm of flying led to hamper them, the reinforced number of zealots practically dog-piled on my friend in a great, cohesive frenzy of psionic weaponry.

I couldn't stop flinching as blood flew in little sprays while the aliens ravaged the hydralisk's carapace, yet, the bright report of a failing plasma shield met the eyes once again. Despite the pain of his mounting wounds, Bane could be seen amidst the flurry of psi blades with another foe speared on the end of one blade with the other poised for the deathblow, but Dramier seemed to be waiting for this.

In an instant, all ten zealots tackled the hydralisk, diving on it's arms and back in a sudden attempt to hold it down. Bane tried furiously to sling the enemies off, but my friend was already battle-worn before even arriving here and his strength was draining. Finally, with the entire squad of Khala warriors bearing on it, the hydralisk all but collapsed forward, still fighting the weight by holding itself off the deck with both scythes.

Multiple zealots reactivated their psi blades, quickly bringing them to my friend's skull and neck, but the horrible demise stopped short, inches from its unthinkable outcome. Dramier's telepathic laugh rang out once again, searing my mind as the Archon drifted over to Bane with all but curious words,

"So, Rakeem; your mad ranting before the council contained an element of truth after all..."

The great knot of zealots suddenly heaved as Dramier got too close to the snarling hydralisk, and he backed away a short distance before continuing,

"A Zerg warrior breed with the mental prowess of a cerebrate, and the attributes that it entails, no doubt."

"Though your abilities have fared you well, foul creature," The Archon spoke directly to Bane this time, "They shall be the means of your end!"

My friend didn't offer the evil entity even the grace of words; the hydralisk only growled a new, deeper pitch. Then, under Dramier's powerful control, San'Dreale stepped forward to join the Archon's side and my heart skipped a beat as the Dark Templar drew its crackling warp blade.

"You taught your students in the dark energies of the Khala for the purpose of defending this being, Praetor," Dramier's words boomed malevolently, "How ironic that you must now watch as your great hero is put to death by your own hand!"

Though still pinned beneath the maelstrom, Rakeem's energy could be felt in the air like the heat from a fire as he desperately struggled to break free of the Archon's power, but it was in vain. T.J. and the mercenaries in the ship hurled obscenities to the best of their ability and I should have been going insane, but the serene calm from before suddenly returned ten-fold. Time itself seemed to slow down and my view of the horrendous scene began taking on new colors while my friend's urgent telepathic voice broke the hold of the maelstrom on my body,

"...Reece-listen to me; run!"

Suddenly, my arms and legs would obey my commands again as Bane shared his mind with mine once more. The inverted hues of the hydralisk's vision and the acute detail of its hearing dwarfed that of my dull human senses; even the number and pain of its wounds could be felt clearly. However, I did little to move, yet.

"Run where?" I didn't have to speak the words out loud, the thoughts seemed to jump between us like a spark, "They will find me and kill me just the same."

"If you do not run, they shall kill you," came Bane's grim response, but I wouldn't be excluded from the fight-not this time,

"I'm tired of running! I won't turn my back anymore while you sacrifice yourself again and again!"

My friend tried to say something more, but I forced my mind to shut the words out and groggily got to my feet. The dizzying clarity of the world with the senses of a cerebrate confounded my brain, but I encouraged my legs into a clumsy jog. With all Dramier's available troops now occupied in restraining Bane, no one seemed to take notice of my movement; the empty supply crate to the right still served as a prop for Joe's lucky cards and T.J.'s gauss rifle.

"Do you still believe I have lost control, Praetor?" Screened through the hydralisk's powerful sensory perceptions, the maddening chorus of the Dark Archon's words seemed hollow-almost childish, "Now that I have all control, enlighten me; now that there is nothing left to help you."

The weapon should have been awkward and heavy, yet in that state of mind, the firearm's weight was hardly even noticeable. This was literally my second time holding a gun and would be my first time firing one, but I had seen the mercenaries operate them enough to know I had only to release the safety and jerk the bolt back. Bracing one foot behind me in anticipation of the impending recoil, I leveled the barrel out to center mass on the swirling aura of the Archon and fired from the hip.

The rifle responded instantly; winding up to speed briefly before unleashing its payload of armor-piercing rounds with healthy belches of flame. The psionic buzz in the air snapped to a different pitch as Dramier whirled around to face me with plasma shields alight from my assailing bullets.

"FOOL!" The alien consciousness boomed as it hurled the maelstrom against me again, causing me to let the barrel drift up with the recoil of automatic fire. However, Bane's mind shielded mine from the raging mental attack once more and I found my target again.

Then, the Archon suddenly came for me despite the volley of led, looming up with startling speed. I couldn't risk back-pedaling; it took everything I had just to keep hold of the hulking weapon and continue firing without tumbling over. Dramier towered above me as he raised an arm that was longer than I was tall and brought it back like an enormous club.

I vaguely remember being smashed off my feet when the Archon backhanded me into the air, but the maelstrom took hold again quickly as the pain scorched across my mental link with Bane.

The wind was knocked out of me when I hit the deck and rolled to a stop, yet the furious, thundering roar from the hydralisk shall always resound in my mind. Pinned once more beneath the Archon's power, I strained to see what had happened, but it was difficult to make sense of the chaos.

Two more zealots lay in their death throes; one bearing a great, open slash in it's chest and the other was all but beheaded. Somehow, my friend had broken free, spilling zealots onto the floor and slaughtering those that remained afoot to oppose him. Bane repelled the next enemy that recovered, thrashing its spinning psionic weapons aside with one scythe before impaling it with the other and hurling it into San'Dreale just before the Templar connected with it's warp blade.

The two protoss crashed to the deck together as Bane turned to face the next assailants with scythes at the ready. Then, without warning, the blast of alien engines could be heard as the Kalimar's fleet of interceptor's, under Dramier's control, began lifting out of their bays in the background of the battle.

"I cannot be stopped," the Archon's crazed telepathic words blared while the remaining seven zealots charged for the hydralisk again, "Not by you; not by ANYONE!!"

Bane spun with both blades as the ring of enemies closed on him again, but there was nothing he could do to stop the interceptors as they lined out overhead and fired a consecutive volley from their pulse cannons.

The resulting explosion engulfed the entire group of combatants, scattering them in a blinding plume of blue fire. Dramier's zealots got blasted in all directions, but four of them were spared by their plasma shields while the hydralisk had only its charred, broken carapace for protection. Because of his greater weight, Bane wasn't launched as far by the shock wave, but, instead, absorbed more of its lethal energy before he slid to a stop in front of the first interceptor bay on his backside.

At first, Bane hardly moved, but then, slowly, the smoldering, bleeding beast rolled over and pushed itself off the deck, growling doggedly as it rose to do battle once more. Even so, Dramier wasn't willing to lose any more zealots. Instead, I watched in shock while the interceptors fired again, in another collective shot. Bane seemed to be waiting for this, and rolled to one side just as the ships released their charges.

The detonations were close; shrapnel from the deck peppered the hydralisk's carapace, but then the interceptors began firing again and again. Instead of going for cover, Bane charged back towards Dramier and his remaining zealots as he ducked and dove through the streaming pulse fire.

"Die! DIE!!" Dramier's telepathic voice shrilled in outrage as he suddenly sent one interceptor after another rocketing down range. A single fighter may have been enough, but with four crafts now bearing down on him among the raining, blue energy, there was nothing my friend could do to save himself.

For a split second, Bane was still visible, but after the interceptors flashed by in a torrent of yellow alloy, the hydralisk was gone. The ships hurled into the first interceptor bay together, instantly reducing to a twisted mass of broken metal and blue flames in a single, explosive impact.

An eerie silence prevailed as my brain refused to accept what had just happened; even Dramier was silent for a moment, as if the Archon itself didn't believe that it was really over. No matter how hard I tried to hang on, the presence of Bane's mind on mine slipped away; it was done.

The affects of the maelstrom pressed down on me harder than ever and the Archon's excruciating telepathic words defiled the air as it turned toward Rakeem once more,

"I hope you enjoy the accommodations of your stasis cell, Praetor!"

Dramier actually gave orders to his last four zealots and San'Dreale in the form of words this time, waving them forward,

"Take the Praetor and his remaining students onboard, then destroy these wretched Terrans!"

Still under the influence of the Dark Archon's power, the Templar were helpless to resist while the zealots extinguished their psi blades and began dragging them away, toward the waiting shuttles. Dramier, with his High Templar-battery still at his side, unexpectedly drew near again,

"How were you able to stand against my power, mortal?!" The Archon's mental voice pierced ugly holes in my thoughts as it stood high above me, but I was no longer afraid of it,

"Only one alien calls me 'mortal'," I practically spat, "And it sure as hell isn't you!"

"Ever the little fighter," Dramier teased malevolently, holding one fiery palm open towards me, "No matter-I shall see for myself!"

Suddenly, every sense blazed to life in agonizing pain as the Dark Archon's mind raged against the seams of sanity and logic that held my own together. Unworldly voices began howling into my thoughts and I could already feel myself losing ground. Everything went black as I struggled to keep a grip on reality, but it was an act in vanity. Any second, the walls of mind would collapse and my life would end as the Dark Archon forced my essence from my body, but this was not to come to pass.

Even through the chaotic energies that pulled and tore at my locked mind, consuming my senses, I could feel the Kalimar quake beneath my body. The Archon's power relented suddenly, releasing its strangle-hold on my brain. Simple things like sight and sound returned slowly as Dramier hovered away, facing the first interceptor hangar again. With Rakeem and his students locked somewhere inside, the four zealots reappeared from the open shuttles and broke stride to join their master when it happened again.

This time, the heaping mass of debris that filled the bay began shifting outward and huge pieces of wreckage broke lose from the top, rolling out into the main hangar. Dramier guided the carrier's remaining fighter craft into a new formation, gathering his defenses for whatever attack might come next. However, the terrifying thing of destruction that emerged would be stopped by no such means.

There arose a deep, monstrous growling that reverberated through the Kalimar's deck briefly before the noise suddenly erupted into a trumpeting roar that assaulted the ears. Huge, smoldering pieces from the crashed interceptors practically exploded from the hangar, reeling through the air and tumbling away in a shower of yellow metal as the hulking form of a Lurker burst from the burning wreck, tearing free with its gargantuan scythes.

This creature that my friend had become charged ahead on huge, bladed legs that, by themselves, compared in height with the zealots. The interceptors fired madly as Bane closed the distance in seconds, but the individual blasts from the pulse cannons dissipated harmlessly, leaving only a slight char on the lurker's reinforced carapace. Dramier sent another pair of the ships racing ahead again, but Bane swatted them aside in time with great, arching swings of each colossal scythe.

The light crafts crumpled against the blades when they met in mid-air, exploding into balls of fire and shrapnel as the behemoth heaved them overhead. Then, the zealots foolishly stood their ground as the nightmarish mutation bore down on them with a single, devastating sweep of one scythe.

The Protoss warriors were slaughtered instantly as Bane's merciless attack sent them spinning into the air, some in two halves. The zealots vanished in flares of blue energy and Dramier fled, leaving San'Dreale and the High Templar behind in a dash for the safety of his shuttles. With the source of the Archon's power left bare, Bane reared both immense blades high and brought them back down on the High Templar like a falling mountain.

The hapless Templar disappeared as Bane's scythes buried themselves in the metal deck of the Kalimar. The last two interceptors fell out of the air when Dramier lost his control over them, but he was already onboard the second shuttle. San'Dreale collapsed, crumbling lifelessly to the floor as the lurker surged past, breaking for the retreating Protoss ships, but it was too late.

Bane lunged for the shuttles as they gained altitude and sped away, but they were just out of reach. The effects of the maelstrom drained and I was able to stand and watch, as Bane did, while the three shuttles accelerated back to the distant tunnel at the entrance of the Kalimar's hangar.

Slowly, the mercenaries emerged from their overturned dropship, T.J. and San'Dreale got to their feet and everyone joined me as I stared up at the unreal being that had saved us again. I cannot remember how long we stayed like that, with my friend just staring back down at us, but finally, the Lurker broke the calm,

"You must leave this place," Bane's telepathic voice in this new form sounded raw and powerful, but, at its core, the words were ragged and steeped in sadness, "That creature still has control of Rakeem's carrier; even now we are sinking to the planet and to the swarms there."

"But how..." Boss began to ask, but trailed off as the lurker turned from us and slid both scythes under the dropship, flipping it back onto the right side. Suddenly, with the beast next to the cargo vessel, my heart dropped-Bane was far too big to fit inside the ship with us.

No one made a move toward the dropship; even the stone-hearted mercenaries weren't so quick to leave Bane behind this time.

"You're one hell of a bug, Biggie," Boss said solemnly to my friend, "Don't ever believe anything different!"

"Indeed," San'Dreale added, still somewhat in a daze from Dramier's mind control, "Master Rakeem's tales of your heroics hardly do you justice."

"Please," Bane snarled, motioning toward the dropship with both massive scythes, "There is little time, you MUST go!"

San'Dreale and the mercenaries hesitated for a moment still, but then the urgency Bane conveyed seemed to take hold, and they began jogging back to the waiting craft. Yet, I stayed.

"Reece..." Bane began, but I couldn't take it. I ran ahead and threw my arms around one of the Lurkers front legs, burying my face against the cold, bone carapace. The bladed limb ripped my sleeve and sliced my arms, but I didn't care,

"I don't want you to go," I sobbed, "It's not fair! I can't lose you again!"

Bane didn't say anything; he only watched and waited while my emotions poured out,

"...Please don't leave me again..." the words tore at my insides, making my throat ache in sorrow.

At last, I looked up, despite the unbearable hurt I knew it would bring, and gazed into those fathomless, crimson eyes once more. Then, my friend spoke the words that would echo in my memory for the rest of my life,

"You have only to stay alive; I shall return for you."

To Be Continued...

Hello again, righteous readers; it has been so long, I do not know were to begin. I suppose I should start by offering my apologies for taking such a long time to finish chapter 16, but what good is that now, a year later? All I can really offer you is the promise that I'll never quit; you should never have to wonder wether or not the next chapter of Bane will ever come out-it is more an issue of when.

Even though this is technically a turning point in season 2, I decided not to include an epilogue for two reasons: 1- This isn't the end by a longshot and -2- I thought at the last minute that it might be better to keep everyone guessing. I know I said I would try and kill the length a little on this one, but what can I say; old habits die hard, this one's 32 pages long. Last, but definitely not least, I'd like to thank you again, the readers and fans, for making it this far and taking the time to let me share this story with you, and I can only hope that you enjoyed reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it for you.


	17. Bane 17: Return of the Hero

Bane 17: Return of the Hero

The engine deck of the Lucky Break II groaned around me, complimenting the occasional blast of steam from the exposed relief valves that lined the poorly lit passageways between the rows of great fans and ducts. My right hand instinctively tightened to a white-knuckle grip on the stock of my weapon as I scanned the area ahead for anything that stood out from the machinery before moving the next boot forward. After holstering the gauss pistol I held with the left, I reached for the radio switch on my headset,

"How's it going up there? Are you trying to make a career out of this job or what?!"

Interference crackled over the line briefly before T.J.'s voice broke through it, "Not much longer, kid; reactor control's almost clean. Everything still frosty in cold fusion?"

"Yeah, real cool," I replied without skipping a beat, "But all this cheery scenery is gonna make me hurl. I wish the damn things wouldn't hide like this."

Off in the distance, the clang of metal on metal rang out behind me, and I whirled around, finding nothing but the empty corridor beyond the sights of my favorite gun. In my headset, T.J.'s voice continued to rattle on,

"I know whatcha mean; a pair of their engineering boys got diced, and the scans still showed a few critters running around. They have to be here-"

"Shut up for a minute, man!" I hissed back, interrupting the static-ridden words that bombarded my ears, "Get down here; things may be heating up!"

Slowly, I reached for my sidearm again and switched it to full-auto as T.J. acknowledged me over the radio, "Hold your position, we're on the way!"

After disengaging the safety on the C-8 Shell launcher that I still gripped with my right hand, I set the rounds to impact detonation, and pretended to go back the other way, towards the source of the noise. When outgunned, even the zerg commit to some level of strategy to defeat their enemies, but this was the oldest trick in the book. Seven paces later, I turned again, found my target and fired without so much as a second thought.

The zergling was bunching together for the leap attack, and the shaped charge met it center-mass just as it lunged ahead like a wound spring. Despite being some distance away, the ensuing concussion wracked my tactical armor while I spun on one heel and let the gauss pistol rip. Two more fiends bounded up the short hallway towards me, ignoring the damage from the automatic rounds I sent downrange. The C-8 bucked again as it lobbed another shell toward the racing enemies, but I grimaced when the explosion flashed behind the zerglings, only managing to knock one of them off its' stride and sever a coolant line under the floor.

Steam gushed into the hallway in the zerglings wake, masking their movements while I fed the last of my gauss rounds to the closest one. It screeched and squealed as the led pelted holes in its body until one limb failed and the creature rolled to the grated steel floor. However, my time was down to seconds now as the final zergling leapt neatly over its fallen brethren before being overtaken by the steam. I whipped the shell launcher over one shoulder and dropped it into its holster, using the free hand to take up a second gauss pistol from its place at my other side. Then, when the billowing cloud of vapor washed past and visibility was at its worst, the zergling attacked.

The tell tale scrabble of clawed feet could be heard just before the brief rush of air. However, I only managed a burst of blind shots in the fog before it plowed into me with both blades outstretched. I've no idea what kept the zergling's scythes from burying themselves in my chest as we both went down, but the impact knocked the fresh pistol from my grasp, leaving only the left, which fired three sad shots before chattering madly from lack of ammunition. The monster raised both sickles for the death-strike, but I heaved beneath the things weight, just managing to get a boot between us. Planting my foot squarely in the zergling's abdomen, I kicked with all my strength.

The zergling bayed in outrage as its scythes flailed at the empty air and raked my leg before it flipped over backwards-buying me just enough time for my groping hand to slap home on the grip of my other gauss pistol.

T.J. and Mosely stormed from the elevator with gauss rifles at the ready, but they stopped short as they found the deck blotted out behind a churning screen of steam.

"Kid! Where the hell are you?" T.J. half-whispered to the radio in his powered suit. When only static responded, he tried once more,

"Reece! What's your location?!"

This time, T.J. and Mosely exchanged a stunned glance as the far-off rattle of my sidearm filled the hazy corridors with sound.

"Shit! Let's go, Mose!" T.J. broke into a run, incidentally waving for the other mercenary to follow. Seconds later, the gunfire suddenly ceased and they pushed into a sprint-much to my dismay. I was just getting to my feet, trying in vain to wipe the splattered zergling blood off my face when they rounded the corner and nearly ran me down. Although I managed to keep my footing, I stumbled when the armored clods smashed into me and hefted their rifles.

"HEY!" I yelled, shoving the barrels out of my face, "Take it easy, you clowns! It's just me!"

"Reece?!" T.J. leaned forward and peered through the steam with his suit lights, "What did you find? Are you okay?!"

"A quick fix with the TRA aside, I'll live if you kill the high-beams," I complained, before switching to a more serious tone, "But these zerglings aren't going to fare as well."

"What?" T.J. nearly sounded surprised, "You didn't save any fun for us again!"

"Nope," I reported while jerking the empty clip from my left gauss pistol before replacing it with a fresh one from my belt, "If the scans only showed three signatures, we're all done here-but thanks for showing up, if it wasn't for you, it might have taken me a whole two minutes to find the door."

T.J. and Mosely parted as I holstered my weapons and walked between them, ignoring their last, sarcastic comment,

"Glad we could help."

The dropship's engines droned ahead monotonously, making the controls hum in my hands. Swaths of white fluff parted over the windshield, periodically revealing sprawling bits of pink and red sky, set ablaze by Heimdall's waning suns. It was one of those vibrant, oil-painting sunset's that seemed to go on forever; the kind that make you think of the past–if the squabbling mercenary in the copilots chair would be silent long enough for thought,

"And then I said I swear baby, I've never seen her before in my life!"

"Is that so?" My generic response sighed out almost automatically. By now, I've logged more hours with this old bird than any other in my life, and I tried to let my mind drift while second-nature guided the craft.

Ever since that day long ago, I've always tried to hide what I was thinking while the others were around, but there was no avoiding the times when everything I held back during the day began to run over the top. First came the regret, always the regret; there wasn't a day gone by that I didn't have to live it down. What if we had done things differently? There had to have been some other way than this; perhaps Bane didn't have to die.

"...You have only to stay alive; I shall return for you..."

The words still echoed faintly in my memory after eight years, but I shook my head in attempt to clear my thoughts; sometimes I really wondered if I was losing my marbles.

This day had been longer than most, starting early with a call for extra security at Mr. Linards for five off-loads. The old goat ran a number of ragged warehouses and the adjacent shipyard back in town, and had always been paranoid ever since a group of stowaways broke out in the middle of the night and made off with a high-priority shipment. From then on, if anything was to stay overnight, he wanted it searched by armed personnel first. Of course, we've never found anything.

Way out here, you don't see much of the zerg. Fortunately, threats to society are mostly of the Terran variety on Hiemdall. A rare exception, the cargo ship Lucky Break II, was returning from its rounds at a fringe mining colony when they realized, too late, that they had taken on more than just the usual shipment of vespene. After losing a pair of egg-heads and lacking the appropriate equipment to handle the situation themselves, the crew had no choice except to pool their credits and pay the lowest-bidding local team to clear the vessel. That meant us.

Except for the graying hair, 'Boss' Michel Collins and his band of cohorts hasn't changed much. Now operating from Hiemdall in the same hired-gun works, and with no where for me to go home to, I joined them. T.J. and Mosely were still dishing it out, but Joe retired two years ago. The vulgar, old space-dog drops in every once in a while, but he's getting up there in age. Kip still ran jobs for Mich when we needed a technical edge, but lately he had been concentrating more attention on assets of his own, mostly in the forms of custom armor and weaponry prototyping.

"And then this big guy showed up and he looked mighty unhappy to see me-"

"Save it for next time, man., the Farside's just up ahead," I interrupted T.J.'s rambling story after I noticed the familiar transponder signal drifting into the scanner's range. The Consolation, as I named her, responded immediately to the controls and began losing altitude when I throttled down the engines and nosed into the clouds. Despite her name and the meaning behind it, this cold, rocket powered shell has been as reliable as the first day the mercenaries gave it to me--the only thing that, since then, has been there every time I needed it.

The flat roof of the Farside Diner stood out easily from the natural cliff it was built on, overlooking the unspoiled splendor of Heimdall's pure seas. With both suns on the water, the ocean was alight with energy and it bombarded my eyes while I guided the Consolation down to the small plateau.

We lurched to a halt when the ship's landing skids met the rock below and then the engines hummed down as I cut the power to idle. Mosely hit the release for the back cargo door and piled out wordlessly, as usual. T.J. unbuckled his harness and was about to jump up when he noticed that I wasn't following suit,

"What'sa matter, kid? Aren't you coming inside?"

"Not today," I reported dryly, without looking up from the instrument panel.

"You're shitting me! After bagging those zerglin's by yourself, you can't just leave without telling us about it! C'mon, I'll buy the first round-"

"No thanks, T.J., I'm beat," I interrupted before he could get too far, "Maybe another time."

"You sure?" The hound tried once more, but I turned down the offer again.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll catch up later."

"Alright, you win," the mercenary laughed, climbing out of the copilots chair at last,

"Enjoy your day off."

I could almost smell the crisp desert air as I relented and let the memories flood into the dream, letting the shifting images before my mind's eye to take the shape of Korhal's red sands. The feeling of the zergling trotting along beneath me seemed so real. When the memory of my friend's voice rang through, a knot formed in my throat. Suddenly, everything changed. The ground fell away, retreating in a dizzying spiral as Bane's wings carried us into the sky. I could practically feel the wind on my face again as the mutalisk screeched wildly, clawing for more altitude. Nostalgia burned at my insides as I longed for the past.

_I miss my friend._

I didn't care if I ever woke up; I was perfectly content staying in this realm of memory and dreams, but there came a sound from far in the distance. One familiar, yet not welcome. It's shrill tones pierced the comforting abyss of sleep. I fought hard against the pull of consciousness, but in vain...

"Alright! I'm awake! I'm awake!" I growled, rolling over to answer the wailing hand-com from where I set it on my supply crate-night stand,

"Yeah?!"

Mich's voice was on the other end, but his attempt to sound surprised didn't fool me,

"Sorry, kid, did I interrupt something?"

"Not in the least," I yawned, "I was just resting my eyes. What's the problem?"

Boss's laugh crackled through the hand-com's tiny speaker, "Right to the point, as always?"

I paused for a moment to look at my wristwatch; the dull digital numbers flashed six-fourteen back at me. This could only mean one thing.

"Well," I began once more, trying not to be overly sarcastic, "I'm assuming there IS some reason behind calling me at six in the morning on my day off."

Mich was quick to respond this time,

"Just so happens there is a reason. You see, T.J. called in today and we need a replacement gun."

I should have known.

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed, "Spare me the sob-story, what's on the list?"

"I'll tell ya' all about it when you get here," Mich answered.

"Okay," I yawned again and was about to close the hand-com when Boss said something else,

"Oh, Reece, one more thing,"

"What now?!" I snapped, failing to conceal my pleasant morning charm this time.

"Thanks!"

With that, Mich closed the line from his side.

"You better be thankful," I growled under my breath, as if someone would hear me, and threw my legs over the side of my bunk. The familiar interior of my humble dwelling greeted me in near darkness this morning as I slapped the hand-com back down on the night stand. It was already obvious: this was going to be one of those days. I snatched my boots from their spot at the foot of the bunk and pulled them on without thinking about it.

My guns were still in their belts and holsters, hanging from a few pegs in the wall, but first I pulled my ammunition stores out from under my bunk and began refilling the spent clips from yesterday. Once I was sure every shell and round was replaced, I turned to the rest of my gear.

The worn, but well patched, tactical armor lay heaped in a pile on an ancient folding chair at the side of my bed, opposite the night stand. After a quick inspection, I put on the shin and thigh plates. They always went before the vest, because the latter hindered my full range of motion. A gnarled gash in the fabric and metal on the left thigh-piece bore witness to my scuffle with the zerglings the day before, but I would have to get it fixed later.

Next, I pulled the vest on over my head and tightened the fasteners. While it did not offer as much protection as the powered suits that T.J. and Mosely still used, the Ghost-style tactical armor allowed faster, more precise movement and didn't produce a quarter of the noise.

Finally, I began pulling the weapons down, one at a time, and strapping them in place. First the back-mounted C-8, then the under-arm gauss pistols, the ammunition belts, short range headset and, at last, the combat knife on my thigh. I was ready.

Corroded by age and surrounded in the undergrowth of the tropical forest, the abandoned bunker I've claimed as home may not look like much from the outside, but I've come to enjoy its perks. Located roughly twenty miles down the undeveloped shoreline and set in among the trees, the place had all the privacy someone could ask for and the sunrise over the ocean is a one-of-a-kind commodity in the known Terran sector.

I stared at my salt-worn abode for a moment, fighting back the urge to bury the hand-com in the sand and go back to sleep. Soon, however, the feeling ebbed and I was able to turn on the place and start down the short trail towards the beach, where the Consolation sat parked.

I could hear the surf and feel its rumble underfoot long before the water was in sight, but nothing prepares you for that view, and it's different every day. Today, the surf was perfect; the swells rolled in clear and steady, alight with the warm morning suns shining through them. The waves lazily reached their crests before tumbling over forwards into a wash of white water that rode all the way up the beach, stretching to within a few feet of the Consolation and then retreating again.

"Good morning, Darlin'," I crooned to the waiting drop ship as I popped the latch on the pilots door, "Sleep well last night?"

The thatched, L-shaped roof of the Farside Diner loomed in the windshield as I brought my ship down for a landing in the sand-ridden parking lot. Mich's craft was already there, as usual, so I guided the Consolation in next to it and cut the engines. Making sure to grab my C-8 from the other seat, I climbed out through the pilot's hatch and made my way to the front door of the diner while holstering the canister launcher on my back again–and for a good reason. Maggie might be blind, but she's far from handicapped. The Mach series plasma cannon she kept under the counter made sure of that.

Maggie was a short, heavy-set woman with gun barrel eyes and curly, grey hair, who's been the owner and sole employee of the Farside Diner for as long as I've been on Hiemdall. At times, she could seem almost grand-motherly, but she was just as quick to turn a totally different face if you got on her bad side. The Farside was always open and Maggie could whip up some of the best grub this side of the Khorpral Sector, so long as you didn't ask too many questions about what you were eating. Best of all, I never tired of listening to her wild accent,

"Aye good 'marn'in ta you, Reeze!"

Maggie acknowledged me the moment I stepped through the door, and I couldn't keep the grin off my face. It's still a mystery, to me, how she's able to identify who walks in without being able to see them,

"And a good morning to you, too, Miss Maggie," I said in my most polite tone as I approached the bar. Mosely and Boss were sitting in one of the wall booths and Maggie addressed me again without turning from the flat-top grill she was cooking on,

"Jaz teek a seat wet yar fren's there, chile– Breekfast well be soon."

"Thank you, Miss Maggie," I nodded despite myself, walked down the bar, and took a stool across from Mich's table. Boss was staring into a cup of coffee he held with both hands and Mosely was reading the stock report, and neither seemed to notice me, yet,

"So what was so important that you had to wake me for it?"

"We'll get to that," Mich finally responded, but not in the tone I had hoped for, "Because there's a little matter to discuss this morning over proper safety procedures-"

"Aww, save it, man!" I interrupted, "What the hell was I supposed to do? Tell the zerglings to sit and wait while the rest of my crew shows up?"

"Very funny, Reece," Mich looked up from his cup of coffee this time and began jabbing a finger in my direction, "But I still expect you to obey standard safety protocols! All it takes is one slip and-"

"And what?!" I fired back, getting up off the stool, "I'll get killed?! Since when does anyone give a shit?"

Without warning, Maggie barked at us over her shoulder,

"BOYZ! Enough weet ta foul tongue ar'll dare be no breekfast todee!"

"Sorry, Miss Maggie," our monotone responses came in complete contrast to our voices just a moment ago. Afterword, Boss was struck silent and I could tell that I had finally hit one home; even Mosely began to take notice.

"You may be no kin to us," Mich said as I sat back down on the stool, "But don't make us live with something like that for the rest of our lives. You, more than any of us, should know what I'm getting at."

This time, I was the one to fall quiet; there was nothing I could say to shoot that down. Mosely began skimming his newspaper again and Boss went back to gazing into the cup in his hands. For a long moment, no one said anything until Maggie walked between us carrying three steaming plates heaped with eggs, fried potatoes and some kind of mystery bacon,

"Breekfast eaz 'ere, boyz!" She announced before handing each of us a plate.

"Thank you, Miss Maggie," We each acknowledged her in turn before she left us to our meal. For a few minutes, we ate in silence; until curiosity got the best of me.

"So what do we have on the list for today?" I said between fork-fulls of egg and potato. Mich seemed to be stirring his food around more than eating when he finally answered the question,

"Mr. Linard has a pair of ships coming in today that need swept, but the real reason I called you out here is this,"

Boss paused to pick up a strip of bacon and took a bite off it before continuing,

"The smuggling of unregistered arms to Hiemdall has risen twenty percent in the last month due to the Ellison's recent involvement with rebel factions. However, the boys in Hiemdall Defense aren't content with just sitting on their hands about it. They would like to pay the Ellison's a timely visit, but they lack the necessary intel' to make a trip worth while."

"So what's this got to do with me?" I asked with my mouth still half-full.

"Hang in there, sport. I'm getting to that," Boss paused for a sip of coffee before continuing, "Just so happens there's a member of the Ellison group that's turning sour, and is willing to provide the Defense with all the info they need for a full-scale assault and seizure."

"That's great, but I still don't see where I play a part in any of this," I interrupted impatiently between fork-loads.

"The thing is," Mich explained, "this turnover has been a long time coming and the Ellison's may try to wax the informant if he's seen leaving with suspicious company, any of my ships included. However, they might not recognize you or the Consolation until it's too late."

I stopped to think for a moment. Ever since I was allowed to carry a weapon, I always wanted a part in the important jobs. But now that the opportunity had finally fallen into my hands, was I really ready for it? Killing mindless zerg was one thing, but the possibility of firing a gun at another person was something totally different, even in self-defense. I shook my head,

"What do you want me to do?"

Boss continued to scratch at his breakfast for a couple seconds before he reached to his top pocket, produced a fold of paper and held it out to me. I hesitated to take it, and instead stared at the scrap with the scrutiny of someone who wasn't sure whether or not they were just insulted.

"The informant is waiting at this location," Mich said over a fork full of eggs, "Pick em' up and make certain his safe passage to the magistrate."

So much for the important job.

"This is what you dragged me out of bed for?" I scoffed while jabbing extra hard at my plate with a fork, "To be some drunken old rebel's chauffeur for the day?"

"Well," Boss calmly replied over another sip of java, "It's either that or you can help Mose' with Mr. Linard's call and I'll pilot the Consolation for this run."

Now thoroughly agitated, I snatched the note from Mich's outstretched fingers with more than the appropriate level of gusto.

"No body flies my ship..." I mumbled half under my breath, even though I didn't care if anyone heard me or not.

After one last bite of eggs, I pushed my empty plate away and hopped down from the stool,

"That's all I have to do?" I asked while studying the co-ordinance on the paper, "Just take this chump to the magistrate? No run-around or go-fer stuff?"

"That's all," Boss repeated without looking up from the plate in front of him, "An open and shut case."

"I've heard that one before," I complained without thinking about it as I stood up to leave, but something hit me and I turned back to Mich,

"What if the Ellison's are there waiting on me and things turn ugly?"

"You're a smart kid," Boss looked up from his breakfast at last, "Improvise."

"I hate the city..." I mumbled to the thrumming engines of the Consolation as the bustling air traffic jockeyed for position in my windshield. It was rush hour and I could hardly see the street just a hundred meters down; the opposing stream of flying commuters rolled endlessly under the nose of the ship, blotting out any view of the ground below. The windows and stonework of the buildings washed steadily by on the right, rising and sinking in time with the sway of the traffic.

With one hand on the shuddering controls, I looked away from the windshield long enough to snatch Boss's directions from the co-pilots chair. The informant's place had to be somewhere ahead on the right; the seventh floor bay of a multi-story shuttle park and condominium on the corner of 23rd and the commercial bypass. I just passed 21st street, so I began nosing the Consolation down to the exit altitude, below the flurry of rush hour.

"Damnit!" I swore as I narrowly swerved out of the path of a larger cargo craft that had cut me off. I resisted the urge hit the radio and tell that prick exactly what I thought of his flying, and, instead, concentrated on the buildings ahead. 23rd was the next intersection and the last thing I wanted was to overshoot and come back through this wonderful traffic.

I didn't have to look very hard; the condo was huge–I had to travel halfway around the block to find the bay for the seventh floor. The wide opening in the structure displayed a green light, indicating that it was clear for incoming vessels to dock inside.

"I suppose this is the place..." I mumbled again to the humming dashboard as I looked over the directions one last time. At last, I guided the hovering ship inside to a vacant pad and cut the engines, letting the Consolation come to rest on its landing skids with one final gasp of its thrusters.

For a few moments, I sat in silence as I gathered my weapons and jammed them in their holsters. From somewhere outside, I could hear footsteps approaching my side of the craft, but I didn't bother to look up, even after my hatch was pulled open.

"Get in on the other side," I sighed in exasperation as I fumbled with one of my gauss pistols, "And don't spill any booze in here, I just had the interior wash–gthed!"

I gagged out the last word in surprise as a great, grimy, claw of a hand slapped against my throat and gripped my neck like a band of steel. With one deft motion, a neckless, bald-headed goon in a grey suit hauled me out of my pilot's chair and held me off the ground with one arm.

"Whatha fuck!" I gasped, clawing vainly at the fingers around my throat with both hands, "Legth' meh go!"

Two more men approached quickly from either side, wordlessly stealing the gauss pistols and my C-8 from their holsters. The seven foot neanderthal that held me in the air grinned slightly as I was disarmed, but I couldn't see his eyes behind the dark sunglasses he wore.

With my possessions in hand, the other assailants moved into my limited field of view, standing next to their goon. One of them competed in size with the gorilla that held me, and seemed more interested in inspecting the sights of my C-8. The third one, shorter than the other two by a whole head and with half the bulk, smiled up at me and announced himself as if he were speaking to the prospective client of a banking firm,

"Ellison's the name, kid, Troy Ellison. How are you feeling this afternoon?"

"Thath's a bith up in theh air...righth now..." I choked, struggling to breath in between words and maintain my composure at the same time.

"Oh?" this Troy raised an eyebrow from under his sunglasses while he spoke with both hands clasped behind his back, "Is this making it difficult to communicate?"

Troy turned his attention to the goon just long enough to say a few words,

"Max, please make our guest more comfortable so he can better understand what I'm about to tell him."

Max, as he was called, grinned a little wider as his hand suddenly squeezed even tighter, making spots form in my vision and all but crushing my esophagus.

"Listen closely, boy," Troy said as he turned back to me, "We happen to know that some other mercenary group has been helping Hiemdall Defense to threaten our recently acquired business arrangement with a certain new clientele of ours. My superiors think I'm wasting my time with you, but I believe you can tell me exactly what we want to know."

"Up....yourths..." I barely managed to force the insult from my pinched throat, but this person continued as if I hadn't said anything.

"You were sent here because it is rumored that one of our people wants to roll over, but not even the magistrate is dumb enough to try and come here to claim such a person. Who do you work for?"

My limbs grew numb and my vision began to black out, but then the leader tapped Max's shoulder with one finger,

"Easy, Max, we don't want him dead just yet."

At last, the grip on my neck loosened slightly and I gasped for air, choking uncontrollably. When my breathing finally returned to some resemblance of normal, Troy leaned closer to me and lifted his sunglasses, glaring at me with a pair of piercing, cobalt-blue eyes as he spoke again,

"Well?"

I did my best to match the mercenaries gaze and practically spat in response,

"Puth me DOWN!"

Troy let his shades fall back into place and nodded his head,

"Very well, I think that could be arranged."

Troy turned from us and walked away, toward the bay's entrance. Once he was at the edge of the building, he snapped his fingers and Max followed, carrying me with him. Despite my already-considerable level of stress, my heart began pounding furiously as Max approached the seven-story drop and held me out over the street. With nothing but air beneath my swinging feet, Troy turned to me again,

"Now that I've got your attention, I'm only going to ask one more time. WHO do you work for? And do be quick, I think Max is getting tired."

"Go...to hell..." I coughed up my reply as I held onto Max's fat wrist with both hands.

"Too bad," Troy crooned, clicking his tongue in sarcastic disappointment, "That was the wrong answer. Max, I'm afraid this conversation is going nowhere-it looks like we're just going to have to drop it."

I grimaced, wrapping my hands into a white-knuckle grip on the goon's arm in anticipation of being let go, but Max didn't get the chance.

Echoing loudly in the cement parking bay, a single gunshot rang out, taking all of us by surprise. Troy whipped around, turning to the third mercenary that was standing guard,

"Lewy! Stop screwing around-I'm trying to conduct business here!"

I could see this 'Lewy' over Max's shoulder, but he failed to respond. Instead, the hired goon dropped forward to his knees before collapsing onto the floor completely. In his place stood the silhouette of someone holding one of my gauss pistols, with the barrel still smoking. This person stepped casually forward with the gun now trained on us and addressed the mercenary leader with a strong, demanding voice. To my surprise, this voice belonged to a woman,

"Put him DOWN, Troy!"

As she walked closer, the light revealed a generously framed lady in her twenties. She was wearing a little black pair of boots with classic denim jeans that were so form-fitting they could have been painted on. Holding a single hand pistol, a thin, brown leather belt and holster was buckled around her trim waist and a tank top finished her outfit, following the same code as the jeans below; provocatively tight and spotlessly clean. Her soft-looking face and hazel eyes held a look of stern determination, wreathed in her shoulder-length brown hair. Despite hanging off the edge of a building by my neck, I couldn't stop staring.

"Caryn?!" Troy snapped, seemingly just as surprised as I was, "What the hell are you doing?! You know how hard it is to find help like that!"

"I'm NOT playing games with you, Troy," this mystery woman shouted back, "Let him go!"

Troy began stepping toward the girl, trying to reason with her,

"Caryn, sweet-heart, what's this piece of shit mean to you? You've got an obligation to the Ellisons, not this backwater chump..."

The mercenary stopped, both talking and moving, when this crazed broad interrupted him by setting the hammer on the gauss pistol. For a few moments, the group stood silent with me still hanging over the street seven stories down, until Troy finally sighed angrily and nodded to Max. The ogre gave me a disappointed look before he turned around and threw me to the floor at the girl's feet. What little wind I had left was lost when I hit the cement on my back. I coughed and choked as I sat up, panting to get my breath back, and watched the couple argue it out in front of me.

"You stupid bitch!" Troy suddenly burst out, "You know what the boss will do about this! I came here to help--You shouldn't have interfered!"

The girl didn't seem to be phased by the threat, but something in her voice sounded upset,

"I've had enough of your help!"

Without warning, Caryn glanced to me without taking the weapon off the mercenaries,

"You!" she growled at me, "Get up, start your ship--we're leaving!"

Slowly, I put my feet beneath me and stood up, still wheezing from being choked so long, and began backing toward the Consolation. Stopping to pick up my other gauss pistol and C-8 from the cement next to the dead guard's body, I watched and waited to see what happened next.

"I don't want to be followed;" the girl commanded, jabbing the gun in the mercenaries direction, "Throw your hand-com over the edge!"

Troy looked about to protest, but Caryn suddenly pointed the barrel to the ceiling and fired a warning shot before aiming the weapon directly at the guy's head. Following another sigh, Troy reached to the inside pocket of his suit and produced an expensive-looking communicator. With a flick of the wrist, he tossed the hand-com over the edge that, a moment ago, I was just hanging over.

"Don't do this, you're one of us!" Troy warned menacingly, but didn't make a move to stop us as Caryn began stepping backwards in my direction.

"Consider this my resignation," the girl replied coldly. Suddenly, she noticed me watching the proceedings and turned her wicked temper on me this time,

"What the hell are YOU waiting for?! Get the ship!"

I nodded and only stumbled twice as I turned on the scene and bolted for the still-open pilot's hatch of the Consolation. With hands trembling from adrenaline, I shifted through the controls and brought the thrusters back online. After nosing the ship around, I found the woman with my gauss pistol still trained on the Ellison's. She glanced over her shoulder as I guided the ship forward until the passenger hatch was right next to her.

"Good," I heard her announce through the static of the engines, "Now, get lost!"

The two mercenaries went wide-eyed and dove for either side of the entrance ramp just before Caryn let the gauss pistol rip, spraying a stream of automatic rounds in their direction. The bullets sparked and rebounded off the cement floor and the girl leapt against the co-pilots hatch and pounded her palm against the window,

"Go, you moron! GO!"

I shook my head and jammed the throttle forward. The Consolation's engines screamed to life, propelling us out into the open air with that girl still hanging on by the co-pilot's hatch. As soon as we were clear of the building, Troy and Max reappeared in the opening with guns of their own in hand, but Caryn turned back with the gauss pistol and let the last of the clip fly as we pulled away, forcing them back behind cover until we were out of range and practically in traffic again.

As I careened back into the rush hour commuters, nearly causing a mid-air collision in the process, the passenger hatch swung open and Caryn climbed inside, taking a seat in the co-pilots's chair next to me. In one swift, smooth motion, she reached to my belt and snatched one of my spare clips before I could do anything to stop her. A split second later, the old magazine clattered to the floor and was replaced by the new one. Then, my own gun was suddenly turned on me.

"Listen up, boy," Caryn announced without hesitation, "What I did back there wasn't for you-so don't start getting all friendly with me! You're going to do exactly as I tell you, or you're going to die–is that clear?!"

"Crystal," I responded, glancing over to stare down the barrel of my own weapon, before turning to watch traffic again.

Without warning, the girl lashed out with the gauss pistol, smashing my right hand with the butt of the weapon,

"Don't you DARE get smart with me!"

The attack made me swerve accidently and I swore out loud with the sudden pain, but grimaced and grabbed the controls once more, despite the blood that started running down my arm from a gash on the third knuckle.

"And there's plenty more where that came from," Caryn jeered, shaking the gauss pistol aggressively, when a sudden burst of static from the radio interrupted her,

"Attention unidentified cargo vessel, this is Khloria Traffic Control! You have been seen in violation of standing commuter regulation four–respond unidentified cargo vessel."

"Oh, just great!" I growled, glaring briefly in Caryn's direction, "It's the air-marshal! What can they possibly want?"

The girl just smiled back at me and answered matter-of-factly,

"Probably to talk about your brilliant display of piloting prowess back there."

I grumbled irritably and reached for the mic-switch, but Caryn jabbed my shoulder with the barrel of my gauss pistol,

"What are you doing?! Make a run for it!"

"I've got news for you, princess," I scoffed, reaching for the radio controls again despite the woman's demands, "We're in a B class cargo ship-they'd shoot us down before we make the next street!"

Again, Caryn whipped the back of my hand in the same place as before, causing me to yell involuntarily just as the radio came online. The person on the other end of the line must have heard me, because the voice came again before I could say anything else,

"Say again, cargo vessel, we didn't get all of that."

I clenched my fist angrily, swallowing the pain while Caryn sat back and grinned from ear to ear, before I finally responded to the air marshal through gritted teeth,

"Roger that, traffic control-you have the Consolation. What seems to be the problem?"

"Your flying's the problem, Consolation," the voice came back with an air of authority, "Bring your ship to street level immediately for pilot inspection."

"Roger that," I repeated before cutting the radio feed with a sigh of exasperation.

To my surprise, the girl didn't have anything to say as I wove the ship down through the lanes toward the pavement below. The Consolation's skids met the cement with a screech, followed by that of the air marshal's vessel somewhere behind. I barely had time to undo my harness before a burley pair of officers showed up at my door. The moment I opened the hatch, they began firing the questions at me,

"Before we revoke your pilot's license," one of them began, "mind telling us where the fire is? You pulled into traffic back there like you were being shot at!"

"I..." I began to explain, but the other guy noticed the second gauss pistol hanging under my left arm and interrupted with another question,

"You got a permit for those weapons, boy?"

"Of course I do," I shot back modestly and pulled my mercenary tags over my head and handed them over. One officer took them and they both took a moment to look the registration over before giving it back.

"Reece Collins, is it?" The first marshal spoke up again. I nodded and the officer continued with another question,

"Mind telling us exactly why you pulled that maneuver back there?"

"You see," I began, partially at a loss for words, "My...girlfriend and I got into a little argument at a bad time...I guess I didn't see-"

Caryn noticeably flinched at my use of the word 'girlfriend', but didn't offer any help as the marshal interrupted me again,

"You didn't see that air-freighter you nearly plowed into?! Step out of the ship, sir, we need to have a look inside."

"But I don't see why..." I began to protest as I unbuckled my harness, but trailed off when an unfamiliar armored transport hovered to the street behind the marshals with its rear cargo door open. My heart skipped a beat as the craft turned in place, revealing Troy's goon in the doorway with a belt-fed auto-cannon hefted in both arms. The marshals hardly had enough time to turn around before Max hit the trigger.

In an instant, armor-piercing rounds pelted the Consolation's hull, mowing the officers down in a hail of flying lead. Blood sprayed on my face as I jerked my hatch closed in attempt to block the rounds out, but I could hear the bullets ricocheting around inside the bay after they punched through the hull. Caryn was already hunched in the floor in front of her seat, yelling up at me as glass rained on us from the shattered windshield,

"Do you want me to drive or what?!" she screamed, "Get us out of here, kid!"

Despite the wailing alarms from the avionics, I goosed the throttle again and the craft leapt forward with a roar of its thrusters. For a moment, rounds continued to pepper the back side of the craft while we sped away, but the Consolation nosed abruptly upwards in response to the controls, sending us reeling into the oncoming traffic above.

For a critical second, I was blinded by a wall of riveted metal as we side-swiped another cargo ship on the right side. The Consolation wrenched violently with the impact, nearly throwing me from my seat before I could recover, only to find a passenger cruiser bearing down on us in the next lane. I swore as the Consolation responded sluggishly, forcing the vessel out of our lane instead of dodging it. The controls shuddered in my hands, fighting my every command as I coaxed the crippled ship over the commuters.

"How the hell did they find us so fast?!" I hollered over the rush of air coming through the open front of the craft. Caryn rolled her eyes, as if the answer was right in front of me,

"Because they have radio scanners, you dim-wit! They probably overheard your little conversation with your buddies back there."

"They killed those guys!" I stuttered, ignoring Caryn's answer, "Don't the Ellison's have ANY respect for authority?!"

"No," the girl responded nonchalantly, "We don't. And you shouldn't either. After all, they almost got us both wasted over a traffic ticket."

"But they're DEAD!" I yelled back, "And now I'm caught up in this whole mess! They're gonna be after me, too!"

"You haven't seen many dead people, have you?" Caryn teased, waving my gauss pistol in the air.

"I don't kill people!!"

The answer practically exploded from me; I didn't care if this woman liked my tone of voice or not.

"Boy," Caryn laughed, as if my situation was trivial, "You've got a lot to learn."

At that, I scoffed,

"Like how to take advantage of people who are sent to help you?"

Suddenly, Caryn wasn't smiling anymore. She quit playing with the gauss pistol and planted the barrel against my temple,

"You forget; I'm still holding you at gunpoint."

I didn't even bother to look her way this time, responding coldly as kept my eyes straight ahead.

"Who cares? That Troy dude and goliath are probably following us right now-I'm dead anyway."

"You really don't know what you're doing, do you?" Caryn frowned behind the sights of the gun, "That metal hulk they're in can't catch this thing-we're long gone."

With my bloody hand, I gestured toward the manic warning lights flashing at me from the gauges,

"But we won't get far like this-my ship's totaled! And how long do you think it's going to take Hiemdall defense to find that mess back there? This thing isn't exactly low-profile anymore."

"That's your problem, yaknow," Caryn eased off with the gauss pistol long enough to brush the hair back out her face, "You're too worked up over the details. I know a place where we can lay low for a while and get your precious Consolation patched up. Head for the industry district."

With Caryn's directions, we made our way to the edge of the city. This side of the capitol was occupied mostly by run-down factories and ragged warehouses that had seen better days. She led me to one of the storage garages on the ground level, seemingly just like any other building on the block. We came to a stop in front of a closed doorway large enough for two Consolations to fit through side-by-side.

"Wait here," the girl announced before climbing out of the passenger hatch with my gauss pistol still in hand. Caryn hopped down to the pavement effortlessly, and slowly approached the garage door. She knocked on the metal twice, and, after a few moments, a tiny metal slit opened briefly and closed again. Seconds later, the door suddenly lurched from its resting place, rising up and revealing a bustling workshop inside. Four craft bays occupied most of the space inside, with two ships already on lifts while multiple workers clamored around them with everything from cutting torches to wrenches.

Caryn strolled leisurely inside, announcing something inaudible to one of the mechanics that stepped forward. This guy seemed to be in his late fifties, with a matted greying beard that matched his grease-stained coveralls. To my surprise, he held his arms out and Caryn practically dove into them. They hugged for a moment before the guy held her out at arms length and said something to Caryn that made her laugh. The mechanic then turned to the rest of the workers inside and gestured toward the girl, after which they all waved before continuing their work.

The old guy looked about to walk back inside when Caryn stopped him with a few words. He looked at her, up to my ship, and back to her again. She nodded and walked away, disappearing somewhere inside while the mechanic moved around to my side of the Consolation.

I opened my hatch as he approached and the mechanic waved me forward with a gruff voice,

"Pull er' into the second bay!"

I nodded, easing the stuttering Consolation forward until it was positioned on the lift. The door to the garage started rolling back down as I climbed out of my ship, and the old guy from before stepped quickly in my direction. After wiping one hand on his coveralls, he held it out to me.

"So my baby niece has gotten you into a spot of trouble, huh?" He announced as I shook his hand.

"I suppose you could say that," I agreed with a quick glance at my battered ship. Apparently, he noticed my concern and shrugged it off with a wave of one hand,

"Don't worry 'bout yer boat-we'll have er' fixed up right in no time! What's yer name, kid?"

"Reece," I said dryly. Caryn was nowhere to be seen, and this guy seemed to notice this as well,

"I know it can be difficult for someone your age, but forget about her for the moment, Reece," the mechanic laughed, slapping my back as he led me to a bench against the back wall.

"The name's Larry," the mechanic announced as I sat down, "Caryn calls me Uncle Lare, but you can just call me Larry."

"Okay, Larry," I repeated from my seat on the bench as he began walking around the Consolation with a critical eye. After the first lap around, he whistled before continuing,

"She sure did a number on this thing-it's a miracle this antique was still airborne! It's gonna take a lot of glue to get this thing flight-ready again."

"I don't have any money with me..." I began, but Larry cut me off before I could say anything else.

"If you're getting my niece out of that mess she's in with the Ellisons, don't worry about it."

"That's the plan," I explained, "But she doesn't seem to see it that way."

Larry laughed again as he climbed into the pilot hatch, talking to me through the broken windshield,

"Caryn is a mite rough around the edges, but she'll warm up to you-she's always been overly defensive."

Larry plunked down in the pilot's chair and looked the instrument panel over with another long whistle,

"This can is older than I thought! Why would a mercenary–even one like you–bother with this old heap?"

The memories suddenly flooded my mind, forcing me to look away from Larry's testing gaze before I could answer,

"I-It's a matter of sentimental value. A...friend got it for me before..."

I trailed off as the words left me, but Larry seemed to understand again,

"I see," He announced, busying himself with the controls inside.

"Well," Larry finished as he climbed back down, "It's gonna take a few hours to get the hull patched and the windshield replaced. Just make yourself at home and we'll take care of the rest."

Despite Larry's advice, I had a difficult time 'making myself at home' on that steel bench. The time ticked by uneventfully as I watched a team of mechanics, under Larry's supervision, crawl all over the Consolation; welding here, hammering there, but never really seeming to get anything accomplished. As a pair of them carried a new pane of glass in front of me for the windshield, I felt a body plop down next to me on the bench. To my surprise, it was Caryn.

"So you met my uncle Larry, huh?" she asked as I noticed her.

"Yeah," was all I could find to say as I began recovering from my boredom. Caryn's hair was wet, but she still had the same cloths on from before.

"I went to go freshen up a bit," she confessed, still holding my gauss pistol in one hand, "I trust you don't mind."

"Do I have a choice?" I asked, even though I knew the answer already.

"Do you ever?" Caryn grinned, jabbing my arm with the barrel of the gun. I flinched when she touched me with the cold metal, and she seemed to notice the dried blood on my hand for the first time,

"I'm sorry for what I've put you through, for what it's worth."

"All in a day's work, I guess," I answered without looking at her, "Even if it IS on my day off."

"Oh, you poor baby!" Caryn crooned sarcastically, but I didn't take my gaze off the floor until a pair of boots stepped into my field of view,

"That should do er," Larry announced, wiping his hands on a sad-looking cloth, "I suppose you two are gonna head out now."

Caryn jumped up from her seat and threw her arms around Larry again,

"Thanks a heap Uncle Lare; I'll see to it that you're paid in full for your effort."

"Forget it," Larry replied, holding her out at arms length once more, "Just promise me that you're through with the Ellison's and that'll be payment aplenty for me."

"This is really it this time," the girl assured, "That kid's taking me straight to the magistrate and I'm gonna tell them everything."

At this, I finally stood up,

"You're going to the magistrate?" I asked, astonished, "You're really gonna do it?"

Caryn turned back to me as Larry left us to the ship, and her scrutinizing frown was back,

"That IS why you were sent, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, I-" I began, but Caryn interrupted me,

"Good. Let's go then."

With that, she paced across the shop and climbed into the Consolation through the passenger hatch. I could only shrug and follow suit. Larry began opening the bay door again and I was surprised to find that it was getting dark already. Before I could climb aboard myself, Larry got my attention,

"You take good care of my little niece, you hear' boy?"

I practically laughed out loud as I popped the latch for the pilot's door,

"But who's going to protect me from her?"

Larry seemed to brush my comment off, so I dropped into my seat and powered the engines up. Thanks to the quick repairs, the Consolation's thrusters rumbled with new life as they came online, abruptly lifting the craft off it's landing skids in a steady hover. The booster wash whipped up a gale in the closed space while Larry moved into view of the windshield and began giving me hand signals to back out by.

As soon as we were clear of the building, I began feeding more power to the elevators and the ship gained altitude. Before I nosed the Consolation into the air and away, Larry waved up to us with an oily hand. Caryn waved back through the new windshield and I waged the vessel in response before pouring the coal to the thrusters. The ship responded with a healthy burst of acceleration, and, in moments, Larry's makeshift garage faded back into the mix of warehouses and factories below.

Caryn waited until we were far out of eyeshot from the shop before speaking again,

"Head east, out of the city."

"What?" I asked, suddenly confused, "Why East? The magistrates headquarters are to the North."

"We're not going to the magistrate," Caryn said almost mischievously while jerking the bolt back on my gauss pistol, "Not yet."

"How much further?" I asked irritably as the trees of the undeveloped forest rolled by, just as they had for the past half hour. Caryn seemed to be studying the Consolation's scanner intently when she finally answered,

"About five miles, but this is close enough."

I had a bad feeling about what that meant.

"Close enough?" I asked, without actually wanting to know why. Caryn pointed to a clearing in the trees ahead with the gauss pistol,

"Bring it down over there. We'll walk the rest of the way."

I knew I had a bad feeling about that.

"Walk?!" I complained, "In the middle of the night? To where?"

"To the Ellison's compound," Caryn replied in an agitated tone, "Now bring this damn thing down before their scanners spot us!"

I sighed, easing the throttle back to bring the Consolation down to the designated clearing. It was little more than an overgrown grassy plot set in a break in the forest, but it afforded enough space to bring the ship down without disturbing the overhead branches. The landing skids swished into the tall grass, bringing the rocking motion of the ship to a sudden halt as we touched down. Finally, the engines fell silent as I cut the power entirely, leaving us with only the dull hum of the electronics.

Caryn unbuckled her harness and climbed out on her side, waving for me to do the same.

"Wouldn't they have already found us with radar?" I asked as we met in front of the craft. Caryn shook her head,

"They don't run radar unless there's a reason; long range detection can give away their own position. Besides, it doesn't work too well from underground."

"Underground?" I asked again, repeating her words like a broken record.

"You'll see," Caryn sighed, exasperated with the questions, "Follow me."

Caryn's estimation of five miles proved to be shy by more than half. Traveling in the thick undergrowth was cumbersome at best; vines and low branches clung at every opportunity and the uneven forest floor was tricky to navigate without slipping or stumbling over a hidden hole in the ground. In contrast to my difficulty, Caryn slipped among the trees almost effortlessly, leading the way and pointing out the occasional hazard that I usually didn't see until it was too late.

At one point, Caryn began moving slowly and deliberately, hissing swears back at me when I stepped on a branch or tripped over roots. Finally, she squatted low to the ground and gestured for me to do the same. I was about to ask why we had stopped when she put a finger over her lips to hush me and pointed ahead with the gauss pistol.

I strained my eyes in the darkness, and, in a moment, found what she was trying to show me. In a clearing roughly a hundred meters ahead, a shadowy mound could be seen through the trees. As we drew slowly closer, I found this small structure to be made of concrete with a single set of double steel doors for an entrance. The forest grew right up to it, shrouding it from overhead view with long branches that reached across it like long, crooked fingers.

It was apparently unguarded except for two men that stood on either side of the door with high-caliber gauss rifles in hand. One of them leaned against the wall, casually puffing on a cigarette, while the other stared off into the woods.

Caryn turned briefly to me, soundlessly gesturing for me to stay where I was. I nodded and she stood up and began strutting leisurely toward the two sentries. In moments, they noticed her approach and snapped to attention, and I held my breath as they suddenly hefted their rifles to their shoulders.

They didn't seem to be bothered by her presence at all. In fact, they dropped their aim and greeted her like old friends as soon as they recognized her. She said something inaudible to them, after which they turned and began moving towards the doors together. One of the guards pecked at a keypad next to the doors, but when they opened with a hiss of the airlock, Caryn drew her pistol without warning.

Two flares of a gun barrel lit the night, but the sound of the guards dropping to the ground made more noise than the weapon's report. That must have been her own gun, I thought suddenly; my gauss pistol could have been heard from a mile away. Caryn bent down and took something I couldn't see from one of the motionless guards and turned to where I was hidden among the trees. She whistled and waved an arm, so I stood and walked out from my place in the woods.

"You killed them!" I gasped as I approached her and the open doorway, noticing the dark pools of blood forming around their still bodies. Caryn rolled her eyes irritably and whispered,

"Would you get over it?! They would have shot us both if they knew what I was here for."

Caryn turned from me and disappeared inside, leaving me with the dead guards. I hastily stepped over one of them and hurried to catch up with her.

The entrance to the compound led to a wide set of stairs that went a short distance underground. The hallway was dome-shaped, lit with buzzing florescent lights every eight feet. Caryn practically jogged ahead, counting the closed doorways under her breath as we hustled past them.

"What's the rush?" I asked, still tired from hiking through the woods.

Caryn didn't look back as she barked an answer over her shoulder,

"The guards check in every ten minutes by radio and there are twenty men stationed here-we don't have much time!"

"Wouldn't they be asleep, like normal people, this late at night?" I wondered out loud as I followed this crazed woman through the tunnel.

"Yes," she answered as she came to a stop in front of a door just like any other on the hall and turned to me again. Her face was serious, steeped in concentration,

"But when the alarm is raised because the guards don't check in, they'll be wide awake."

Caryn fished in her pocket for a moment and pulled out a keycard, probably stolen from the dead sentries, and swiped it through the keypad next to the door. Then, after punching in a combination, Caryn grinned slightly as the door unlocked with an obnoxious buzzing noise. The room inside was dark until the girl flipped a few switches on the wall, revealing a square open area occupied by computer stations.

Caryn slid into one of the office chairs in front of the center terminal and began tapping away at the keyboard. I began to follow her until she waved me back,

"Stay there-watch the door! I'll just be a minute..."

"If you say so," I said, stepping nervously back into the doorway and glancing up and down the hall. After a few uneventful moments, I stuck my head back into the room briefly,

"What are you doing, anyway? This is no time to check your email!"

Caryn didn't look up from her work, her hands flying over the keys, as she answered me in a hushed voice,

"Making a copies of the Ellison's trade routes and base locations! Hiemdall Defense won't be able to make a strike without them."

I nodded, resuming my watch at the door, but that's when someone spotted me. A lone guard without body armor, like the ones that were outside, strolled into view from around the corner. He noticed me almost at once, doing a perfect double take before heaving his weapon to the ready.

"Hey you!" he barked, standing in place with the weapon trained on me, "Who the hell are you?! How did you get in here?!"

When I ducked back in the doorway, he opened fire, raining led against the hallway outside. Seconds later, an alarm began wailing throughout the compound.

"We've got company!" I yelled to the girl, pressing my body flat against the wall to avoid the ricocheting bullets.

"No shit?!" Caryn hollered over her shoulder, "Keep them busy-I'm almost done!"

"Keep them busy..." I scoffed under my breath as I drew my remaining gauss pistol, "...Right."

For a split second, the gunfire ceased and the sound of booted feet began pounding up the hallway in our direction. I held my arm out from behind the cover, spraying bullets indiscriminately down the corridor. A series of swears and screams echoed through the tunnel in response before the suppressant fire began again, forcing me back inside.

"Got it!" Caryn announced triumphantly, jumping up from the chair with a single silver disk in hand. She leapt to my side and jammed the disk into her pocket.

"Time to go!" She said, punching my arm.

I nodded, pulling my C-8 from its holster on my back and switching the rounds to delayed fragmentation. Aiming for the opposite wall at as much of an angle as I could afford in the limited cover, I let two rounds fly.

The shell launcher belched in response, lobbing two canisters against the wall. They bounced off instantly, disappearing somewhere down the hall in the direction of the offending mercenaries. A moment of total panic ensued amongst them as they yelled and dove for cover just before the rounds went off.

The explosions were deafening in the confined space, leaving the hallway outside choked in a blinding cloud of smoke. Caryn darted past me, heading for the exit and I followed on her heels, sprinting hard for the stairway ahead. Moments later, shouts echoed up the hall from somewhere behind and the firing started again. The bullets wizzed by all around, so close they could be heard whistling by just inches away.

We were nearly at the steps when the last door on the hall flew open and another guard jumped into our path, raising his weapon for the kill. However, Caryn beat him to the punch, emptying the clip from my gauss pistol at him while at a dead sprint. The rounds blasted the man full of bloody holes and he hit the cement on his back as we flashed by.

The bullets bounced and sparked from the steps around my feet as I lunged up the stairs in two bounds, but they were too late. I broke into the cool night air and followed Caryn into the cover of darkness.

"Well," I announced while cutting the Consolation's engines to an idle, letting the ship settle to the street with a screech of its landing skids, "This is it. Until you clear my name, this is as close as I'm willing to get to the magistrates office."

Caryn stared blankly out the windshield, flipping the data disk over and over in her hand. After a long moment, she sighed and pushed her door open.

"Hey," I said to her as she climbed out, "If you run into trouble, look me up at the Farside diner."

Caryn's defensive frown reappeared when she looked up at me.

"I told you before," she said, tossing my gauss pistol on my lap, "Don't get friendly with me–it'll only get you hurt."

Then, without so much as a thank you or a good-bye, she turned from the ship and began walking away down the sidewalk, toward the magistrates office.

"You're welcome," I said in disappointment as I leaned over and pulled the co-pilot hatch shut. I watched her until she disappeared around the corner of a building before throttling the Consolation back up.

It was a long, quiet ride back home, and I was exhausted; worn down by the day. It had to be past midnight by the time I reached the ocean again and I was fighting sleep to stay awake and fly the ship the last few miles to my bunker. After hastily parking the Consolation in the sand, I stumbled back to my little home among the palm trees. I was starving from missing dinner at the Farside, but I didn't take the time to choke down a meal supplement. My cold bunk never looked so good as I kicked my boots off and tossed my tactical armor onto the metal folding chair in the corner. I took one last minute to lock the bolt on the door and dropped onto my bed. In seconds, I was asleep.

I couldn't have been out more than five minutes when the hand-com began squalling. Opening my eyes long enough to see that it was now three in the morning, I rolled onto my side in attempt to block out the noise,

"You're shitting me!" I growled, trying my best to ignore the hand-com's cry. Despite the piercing tones, I could feel the numbing cloak of sleep slipping over again. However, much to my dismay and complete surprise, a boot placed itself squarely between my shoulder blades and shoved me off the bunk. I fell the short distance to the cement floor entangled in blankets and total bewilderment.

"Who the hell..." I groaned as I sat up and peered over the edge of the bed. My assailant stood on the opposite side staring down at me. In the near-pitch darkness, I could only make out the silhouette of someone dressed in tactical armor and the long rifle he held with both hands. Instantly, my mind signaled possible danger and I lunged for one of my gauss pistols still hanging from the wall. Yet, when I leaned back up with the weapon trained on the spot, there was nobody there.

"No way..." I mumbled under my breath as I flicked on the light and stood up, scanning every corner of the bunker from behind the sights of the pistol, "No one's that fast!"

I searched everything: in the pantry, under the bed, through the dirty laundry. This mystery person was no where to be found. Then, my stomach twisted into a knot as my eyes fell on the steel hatch that served as the only exit. The lock bolt was still in place; it was physically impossible for someone to have gotten in and back out again.

I let the gun fall to my side and I slapped my forehead with the free hand, "That's it! I'm actually losing my mind!"

Without warning, the hand-com began wailing again, nearly making me hit my head on the low ceiling when I jumped. I threw the gauss pistol against the pillows and moved to the night stand, snatching up the hand-com angrily,

"This better be REAL good!" I barked into the microphone. To my surprise, Mr. Linards voice responded, and he sounded just a little distressed,

"Oh, thank GOD! Someone answered!"

"Mr. Linard?! What's the matter?" I asked, much in contrast to my tone just a moment ago. The old coot was out of breath and obviously panicking,

"R-Reece! You've gotta help me! The Merchant III–she's just arrived and-"

"Mr. Lindard," I began, starting to get annoyed again, "Just lock her up for the night and we'll be there to look it over first thing in the morning."

"NO!" The old man's urgent caw blasted my ear, "Y-You don't understand! There's monsters on board! ZERG!"

"Are you sure?" I yawned, already tempted to go back to bed, "I mean honestly; how bad can it be at three in the morning?"

"But Reece, it's the real thing this time! The night guard would have bled to death had I not found him! They're tearing the ship apart from the inside out! PLEASE! I'll pay you double this time!"

"Alright, Mr. Linard-" I began, but the ancient codger interrupted me again. He was getting totally frantic now,

"I'll Triple it! Just help m-me!"

"OKAY, alright," I had to yell to get him to stop this time, "I'll be there in a flash-just try not to have a stroke in the meantime."

"Please hurry!" With one last cry, Mr. Linard closed the line, and I jerked my boots back out from under the bed,

"The things I do...."

The Consolation shuddered around me while I guided it into the blackness. No stars or moon shone through the overcast, leaving only the lights of the city as visual references in the windshield. If it wasn't for the positioning system and the scanners, I would have passed right over Linard's Ship Yard when I reached the far edge of town. Four red lights from the small craft pad drifted into view below as I brought the Consolation to a hover at the co-ordinance. I flicked on the perimeter lamps and eased her down slowly, until the landing skids met the cement with a harsh screech.

At first, nothing moved. The great, dark square of the main warehouse, about fifty yards ahead, was just barely visible against the clouded sky. Shadowy hulks of the patron ships were off somewhere to the right. A lone guard shack stood a few paces away from the pad, but everything seemed to be asleep. Some monsters.

Just when I was beginning to wonder if I'd dreamt the whole thing, the narrow door on the guard shack flew open and Mr. Linard appeared in view of the Consolation's outboard lights. He came hobbling over, faster than I thought the old man was capable of moving on his best day, and tackled the latch on the co-pilot door. The panic-stricken goat fumbled with the handle a moment before he managed to open the hatch and clamber inside,

"Mr. Linard," I asked with a sigh of exasperation, "What the hell are you doing?"

"T-they're still out there!" he cried. I looked up, glancing at the windshield briefly, but there was nothing there. I sighed again and turned back to the shivering crow that had found it's way onto my ship,

"Where's the crew? Is Jim okay?"

For a moment, the old man seemed at a loss for words before I reminded him,

"The night guard-is he okay?"

"Yes, yes!" Mr. Linard's expression snapped as he realized what I was talking about, "Thank goodness we had the TRA charged last month!"

"And what about the crew of the Merchant III?" I asked again while I cut the engines.

"I've no idea! They were with us on the line all the way in, but we haven't been able to reach them by radio since the ship landed-that's when I sent Jim over to see if everything was okay..."

Mr. Linard paused as he began to gain his bearings, then, his head whipped left and right as he looked around the Consolation,

"Wait, I thought you would bring the others...where's everybody else?"

"Probably still asleep," I answered with a yawn.

The old man did a double take, stuttering again as the panic returned,

"B-but you're just a kid! You can't seriously go in there alone!"

"I don't see anyone else standing around with a grenade launcher," I sighed, jerking the release for my door, "Now show me these monsters I've heard so much about so I can blast them fulla' holes and go back to bed."

Mr. Linard grew wide eyed when I asked him to lead the way,

"I'm not leaving this ship!"

"Fair enough," I replied calmly, "Which one is the Merchant III?"

"The b-big one on the far end," he croaked at last, "The service lift is under the bow!"

After a quick check over my equipment, I hopped down to the tarmac and looked to Mr. Linard one last time,

"Just keep trying to reach the crew by radio and sit tight-I'll be back in five minutes."

The old man nodded vigorously while I pulled the hatch shut again and turned toward the cargo ships.

The hum of the Consolation faded with it's lights as I strode ahead, leaving me with only the sound of the wind and the crunch of gravel under my boots. I should have felt nervous at this point; in the knowledge that I was going in alone, and there would be no one to help me if things went wrong. However, an eerie calm seemed to hang in the air, helping to hold my thoughts together as I closed the distance through the quiet night.

The Merchant III was large for a cargo vessel- over a hundred yards long and five decks deep. It sat more than twice my height off the ground on six great landing skids, and some of the keel lights were still on. In the dull illumination, the service lift could be seen extending from somewhere under the ships' nose to the ground ahead. I approached the elevator with caution; there was no telling how many of these things were hanging around or what form they would take. The open, rectangular floor of the lift waited without a challenge, but as I approached, something made me stop. There was a puddle of blood staining the metal deck of the elevator.

Automatically, my left hand found the grip of the gauss pistol hanging on my side and pulled it from the holster while releasing the safety. I stood perfectly still, straining my eyes and ears for any sign of movement in the night. As the moments passed uneventfully, I noticed a short series of ragged foot prints leading away to another puddle; the dirt still looked damp with it. From the amount of the stuff and its short-lived trail, it appeared that Jim was hurt pretty badly.

"At least the lucky bastard made it outside," I mumbled to myself as my nerves began to relax again, "I doubt that old coward, Linard, would have gone in after him."

Finally, I dropped my guard long enough to step onto the platform. A waist-high control podium stood in one corner, but I stopped to reach over my right shoulder and pull the C-8 from my back. When I punched the metallic "Ascend" key with the butt of my gauss pistol, the hydraulics whirred to life and the elevator lurched upward beneath me.

The short ride carried me into an open, dimly lit area in the belly of the ship. I dropped to one knee and glanced around carefully as the lift jolted to a halt. It appeared that I was in one of the forward cargo holds. Columns of stacked shipping containers and crates filled this space from hull to hull, extending aft-ward four or five rows. A series of runway lights in the deck led away between the rows of cargo, and in their grim glow, I found the trail of blood again.

"No way," I thought as I began following the crimson blotches once more. How did this guy get out alive? Why hadn't the zerg finished him off?

When the trail brought me to the first row of containers, a number of reflective objects scattered in the floor caught my eye. I knew what they where even before I reached the first one: spent bullet casings.

"Damn," I swore out loud, "These things better not be shot up already!"

I plucked one of the shells off the deck and inspected it more closely. They were small caliber rounds, and only a handful of them; not enough to do any real damage. I stood again and slowly continued down the isle with gauss pistol ready and C-8 sweeping for a target. The rows of cargo came to an end were a wide elevated platform capped the back of the hold. A short incline led up, but I wasn't prepared for the gruesome scene that awaited me at the top.

The metal platform looked like something out of a horror movie. Zerg where everywhere, or what was left of them. Their gored and severed remnants lay scattered in pools of dark, unearthly fluids, or slumped motionlessly at the end of a short, fat blood trail.

I mouthed a soundless 'what the hell' as I slowly turned a full circle, trying to comprehend just what had happened. From what I could guess, there appeared to be a number of zerglings, and even a pair of hydralisks, here at one time, but it almost looked as if they had fought each other to the death.

"Where are those other dim-wits when you need them?" I thought as I began to reconsider the very present possibility of being hopelessly outnumbered. With gauss pistol aloft and C-8 held steady, I paused once more to take in my surroundings. This time, my ears picked up a sound in the distance.

The screech of scythe on steel rang out from somewhere ahead, where a single expansive hallway led further into the ship. I proceeded forward, carefully stepping over and around the bodies of the dead Zerg while keeping a sharp eye on the corridor before me. Lit with the same dull lights as the cargo isles, the empty hall led a short distance to a cross-section. Straight ahead, a large, open freight lift offered transit to higher levels of the Merchant III. To my right, the passage narrowed and turned a corner; the painted letters on the wall indicated it as the "Crew Wing". The left, however, was obviously the way my target had chosen.

A pair of sliding steel doors once blocked entry to the Reactor Bay, as identified by the flickering yellow sign above the entrance, but the metal sheets that served as the barrier were cleaved apart and smashed in, crumpled against the frame and curled back into the hall. This could only mean one thing: more Hydralisks. I hated going after them, but not just because it involved lobbing grenades at an image of my old friend--fighting the first one gave me all the experience I needed to see past that. Hydralisks take a belt-full of ammo to bring down, and their greater size and brutal strength makes close-combat an act of suicide.

I swallowed hard and stepped through the gapping hole, silently following the short empty corridor as it made a right turn. The buzz of the idling fusion reactor could be heard while I stopped and peered around the corner, finding the end of the hallway leading to a large, open area with the massive reaction chamber occupying the center. Still with no zerg in sight, I continued forward and got a better look at the area I was in. A walkway encircled the room, with steps leading down to the reactor floor. Not far above my head, a metal catwalk jutted from the wall and continued around the chamber in the same fashion as the path below it. About every thirty feet, ladders extended down, allowing access to the elevated area.

Across the room and to the right, I got my next clue. Another set of steel doors where left mangled out of their frame, where they once concealed a cold storage wing. My intuition told me that I was getting close as I approached the thresh hold, so I paused to double-check my C-8 and ensure that the rounds were set to impact detonation before continuing into the icy locker.

The inert fuel rods for the cold fusion reactor that powered the ship had to be kept frosty, as in many standard cargo ships of the time, but due to advancements in efficiency, a full stock was rarely needed anymore. With the extra space freed in refrigeration, it was not uncommon for ship captains to use the spare storage for other things. This was apparently the case, because the locker's shelves were packed with frozen supplies for the mess hall.

My breath left white clouds of mist in the air as I slowly began pacing down the first isle. Suddenly, I stopped again as I heard something stir on the other side of the shelves. The sound of ripping cardboard met my ears, followed by the jumbled thuds of many solid objects hitting the floor. Using the barrel of my gauss pistol, I reached over to a box on the shelf next to me at eye level and slid it over just a few inches. Through the peek-hole I made in the wall of small crates and containers, and with just ten feet between us, I found my target.

This hydralisk had evidently found it's way to the only pantry on the bottom deck of the Merchant III, and was rummaging around for an easy meal. The middle set of shelves in the locker had been pushed over and it was standing in the huge mess, slashing open boxes of various food-stuffs that lay scattered around it. The creature's carapace and blades were stained dark with blood, but little of it appeared to be of it's own wounds. Of the hydralisk's I'd fought, this one was easily the biggest: it had to slouch under the eight-foot ceiling and it's menacing sickles were longer than my whole arm.

Watching the beast pillage the frozen goods, I suddenly realized my mistake. This was no ordinary Hydralisk, it was a Hunter-Killer. Boasting greater strength and vitality than their more common counterparts, Hunter-Killers were not a force to be taken lightly. Worse yet, this was the first one I had encountered that didn't call me by name.

Deciding to take advantage of my element of surprise, I eased the C-8 into the gap, leveling the barrel at center mass on the zerg that had its flank to me. The range was too close for impact detonation; I couldn't risk a direct blast that might send the whole isle toppling over on me. The thought of being pinned in the same room with a feral, enraged Hunter-Killer almost made me shudder. However, when I flipped the lever under the stock to switch the rounds to delayed fragmentation, the tiny metallic click it produced was all it took to give away my position.

In a split second, the monster whipped it's head in my direction, snarling defiantly, but I didn't even give it time to lock eyes with me. Instead, I jammed the trigger on the shell launcher, releasing a single explosive round, before diving for the open doorway a few paces back. With gauss pistol and C-8 occupying each hand, I made a clumsy landing; rolling over my shoulder and back to one knee. An instant later, the round went off.

The percussion lashed the still air and nearly knocked me off balance as I watched part of the blast surge through the doorway, carrying a wave of pulverized debris from the shelves inside.

Without further hesitation, an ear-splitting roar trumpeted from the storage cooler, announcing my grave mistake, just before one furious Hunter-Killer practically exploded out of the smoldering locker. I only stumbled once after leaping to my feet again, breaking into a flat run out across the reactor floor. I didn't get the chance to look back, but I could feel the thing's weight hit the deck behind me when it lunged down the short staircase in pursuit.

My heart pounded to match my foot-falls, but my mind was calm and clear: typically, I would have been forced to find cover from the hydralisk's spines, but my short lead around the reactor prevented it from getting a clear shot. However, if I was ever hoping to put more lead on target, I needed a new vantage point--fast.

Taking my chances again, I veered from the reactor toward the next set of steps and risked a glance back before I hurtled up the stairs in a single bound. The Hunter-Killer was a dozen paces behind and closing, but when it saw me change paths, it halted abruptly and opened it's spine cavity for firing.

The moment my boots met the perimeter level again, I collapsed forward into a summer-sault to avoid the incoming spikes as they whistled by just inches overhead. Rolling to my feet again, I swung the C-8 into its holster and slid to a stop in front of one of the access ladders for the upper catwalk. With one gauss pistol still in hand, I all but flew up the rungs, nearly falling off backwards when a well-aimed spine severed the ladder's connection to the floor. The ladder pivoted wildly on it's remaining top fasteners, threatening to dump me back down, but I managed to keep my grip and pull myself onto the platform. Only a split second later, the hydralisk was at the foot of the ladder, jabbing for me with its scythes.

I jumped back to avoid the flailing blades, taking this as an opportunity to draw my second gauss pistol and rain lead on the monster with both barrels. Through the muzzle flashes, the rounds could be seen briefly sparking and ricocheting from the thing's armored shell before it growled in frustration and backed out of view. For a few moments, all was quiet again, save for the rattle of my spent gauss cartridges bouncing on the metal grating.

With an ear-piercing screech of parting steel and startling speed, a mono-molecular edged scythe suddenly burst through the floor between my feet; chest high and a hair's breadth from disemboweling me.

"Sonofa-bitch!" I involuntarily yelled as I stumbled backwards in shock and surprise. Just as quickly as it came, the blade withdrew, only to have the other punch through again so closely that it split the toe of my right boot. I jumped to the left in a vain attempt to lose the deadly blades, but the Hunter-Killer seemed to anticipate my every move. Just a moment early, another scythe jutted up directly in my path, and I fumbled into the flat side of it. As soon as I made contact, the beast promptly removed it's blade, causing me to trip forward and slice my right calf open to the top of my boot in the process.

I landed flat on my face and lost my grip on one gauss pistol, but I didn't have time to watch it skitter away across the platform. Instead, I rolled hard to the left, just avoiding the deadly attack I knew to be coming next.

With enough force to distend a great spot in the steel catwalk and send me reeling for an extra loop, the Hunter-Killer plowed both scythes up through the floor and plunged them back towards me. The blades arched down just inches from my ribs, rending long gashes in the warped grating.

For another short moment, there was silence as I laid on my back, contemplating wether I should move or remain still. A split second later, that decision was made for me. The hydralisk's scythes came again, spearing up through the floor from the other side of me as if they were spring loaded. I kicked forward onto my feet, nearly toppling over backwards again when the blades buried themselves in the catwalk behind me.

"Enough of this..." I thought angrily while I jammed my remaining gauss pistol back in its holster. Taking half a step forward, I stomped hard on the grating ahead of me and stepped lightly back. Sure enough, one of the monster's macabre sickles pierced the spot. It punched through, waist-high, before disappearing again and leaving a large oblong hole half a pace in front of my boots.

In a single motion, I dropped to one knee and flipped the C-8 from over my shoulder, switching it to impact detonation just before I drove the barrel into the gap in the floor. Then, the rifle responded with a pair of healthy kicks as I jerked the trigger twice.

Mixed with a muffled, enraged growl from the hunter-killer, the rounds reported instantly. Miniature plumes of heat and flame erupted around me from the holes and rips in the platform as it trembled violently with each explosion.

Standing again made my right leg burn despite the adrenaline. I grimaced as I limped the short distance to my dropped gauss pistol and snatched it up with my free hand. About twenty meters ahead, an open hallway offered safety from the assailing blades, and I made for it without looking back.

To my surprise, I reached the corridor unhindered, gaining a short, but much needed, lead on the Hunter-Killer. I turned and backpedaled, keeping the entrance in the sights of my C-8 while shifting the other hand to my headset. I could only hope Mr. Linard was listening on the Consolation's radio as I hit the mic-switch and attempted to get a message through,

"Hey Linard, use my com-link in the ship to get through to Mich! Send some backup down here– this damn thing's a handful!"

I began to slow down as the radio failed to fill my ears with static when I released the microphone.

"What the..." I mumbled as I peeled the radio off my head and quickly inspected it in the dull light.

The plastic housing for the sending-receiving unit was smashed; probably during my fall. The radio was useless. Of all the occasions that I had wished for something like this, it finally happened at the worst possible time. Now I really was on my own, wether I wanted to be or not.

I slung the headset to the floor in frustration and stopped where the hallway ended at a corner to replace the three shots I fired from my favorite gun. I pulled a pair of fresh charges from slots on my ammo belt, but what happened next nearly made me drop them.

Another furious roar thundered from the reactor chamber down the hall just before those scythes violently reappeared in view of the thresh hold, once more punching up through the catwalk outside. This time, the blades ripped a pair of long, gnarled slashes in the floor before receding again. With frantic fingers, I loaded the new rounds while the powerful hunter-killer curled the grating up and back, forcing its way through the floor.

The metal plating and beam-work of the catwalk groaned and snapped before I slammed the last round home in time to see the overgrown hydralisk haul its bulky frame through the mangled floor. Practically filling the hallway as it barreled up the corridor in my direction, the thing made an easy target as I put the butt of the C-8 to my shoulder and began firing. The grenade launcher thumped, ejected the used cartridge and thumped again as I methodically put the rounds downrange. Lighting the hall with brilliant flashes of churning, yellow flame, the shells hit their target in rapid succession and engulfed the beast in blasts of fire.

When all eight shells were emptied from the rifle, I stopped and watched while the smoke and flame dispersed. Yet, to my surprise, the creature remained standing as the cloud drifted back. The charred, smoldering Hunter-Killer reappeared, bracing with both arms and scythes crossed in front of its face as the ship's ventilation system drew out the last of the smoke. Somehow, it had blocked my shots.

"...This just hasn't been my day..." I murmured just before the monster unfolded its arms and stretched them wide again with a vicious, challenging snarl. A pair of barbed spikes whistled by my ear, knifing into the wall when I turned on the scene and bolted around the corner.

Along this hall, multiple doors on the left side offered new paths to take, but each one I came to seemed to be locked tight, as indicated by the flashing red lights above them. I took a second to look over my shoulder as I limped along, and it probably saved my life. In that instant, the Hunter-Killer rounded the corner and stopped, opening its spine cavity once again.

I dove to the floor, just avoiding the poisonous spikes that sailed overhead, but the maneuver made me hiss in pain from my sliced leg. I had to move again; any moment the hunter-killer would adjust it's aim and pin me to the floor with enough spikes to cripple an armored war-walker, but all the doors on the left were locked. However, I had a stroke of luck. To my right, a single door in the center of the hall displayed a bright green light, and, instead of pin-cushioning me with spines, the Hunter-Killer was rampaging up the hall after me, apparently intent on ripping me apart with its blades.

Using my empty canister rifle for a prop, I spent the last of my lead in throwing myself against the door. I pounded my free palm against the controls and the hatch moved aside with a satisfying hiss of the pneumatics. I practically fell inside, turning over in time to see the oversized hydralisk reach the threshold just before the door slid shut in its face.

I panted heavily as I got to my feet, fumbling with my ammo belt for my last set of C-8 grenades while backing away from the entrance. I stopped short as my backside met a hard surface, and I turned around to find that this room was walled off by a series of thick cables that ran from the floor to the ceiling. I was in a distribution maintenance closet with no way out except the door I came in through.

Without warning, a deafening metallic percussion boomed from the door, leaving a massive dent in the steel hatch. I could only watch in terror as the hunter-killer's scythes came again, piercing through the metal this time. Panic set in as I watched the door crumple beneath the monster's blows. Any second, the steel would give away, and I would be cornered by the feral beast, but that's when I got an idea.

With only seconds left, I flipped the C-8 over my shoulder, jamming it back in it's holster, and waited for the timing to be right. I would only get one shot at this; if it failed, I would be at the mercy of the Hunter-Killer–as good as dead.

The macabre blades came one last time, and, snarling with exertion, the unreal creature peeled the door out and back. My heart pounded furiously–this was it.

The furious hydralisk squeezed through the entrance and stood glowering before me, raising both scythes to finally crush me. Just as it brought the deadly blades down, I dove for the floor, rolling just under the thing's arms. Then, the ship seemed to blow up around me.

Hot white light engulfed my vision and a vicious crackle filled my ears. It rose in intensity, cutting across all my senses until something exploded, launching me against the opposite wall of the hallway. The back of my head smashed against a bulkhead, and I briefly recall the lights blinking twice before going out altogether before merciful unconsciousness wrapped it's painless cloak over my mind.

I came too with blood coating my face and running over one eye. Slowly, I pushed myself off the deck and attempted to wipe it away. Dull red emergency lights offered the only illumination now, and the air was thick with the stench of charred carapace. Groggily, I got to my feet and limped to where my C-8 had landed a few paces away.

Very slowly, I approached the distribution closet again, finding the hunter-killer's armored tail protruding into the hall. Smoke clogged the little room, but as it dissipated, the zerg's ruined form gradually became visible again. It lay on it's backside, impossibly burned and still smoldering, practically filling the confined space where it was sprawled on the deck. The thick power cables were cleaved in the center from it's misguided attack, some still smoking and sparking as the exposed conduits lay tangled over the body. At last, I was able to lower my weapon and sigh with relief; I had done it.

My heart dropped and I could only watch in horror as the thing writhed on the floor–it wasn't dead! Enraged, I jerked a pair of cartridges from my belt and fed them into the breach of the C-8. With only a few feet between us, I hefted the weapon and took aim for its face, however, I didn't pull the trigger.

The weapon trembled in my hands as I watched it's eyes open just slightly, appearing as a pair of red slits in the shadow. Those eyes seemed to bore into my own, staring at me unblinkingly. It's breath came slow and ragged, growing shorter and shorter in duration as time dragged by. I shook my head; I couldn't allow my memories to endanger me again. Finally, I switched the rounds to delayed fragmentation and began to squeeze the trigger.

"...You..."

The single word trickled into my thoughts, just barely on the edge of detection. I didn't listen to it; my delusional brain had to be playing tricks on me. Nostalgia bubbled up inside me, making my throat ache as I attempted to pull the trigger once more, when the words came again,

"...You...still live..."

I still didn't believe what my mind was telling me; it couldn't be–it wasn't possible! Yet, as if of it's own accord, my arm let the weapon droop slightly. At last, my heart won out over my instincts that screamed at me to pull the trigger. With a failing voice, I finally stuttered forth with the question that burned like a wildfire,

"B-Bane?"

The creature's eyes opened slightly wider, but it's body remained still as the answer slowly came,

"...Reece...you have grown...strong..."

My hand convulsed, letting the weapon clatter to the floor.

"I-It's you..." I stammered, still in a state of shock, "It's really you!"

"...Indeed," the wonderful telepathic voice from my memories was alive again, making my knees buckle beneath me.

"..I....I'm..." I choked, the tears suddenly streaming down my face as I realized the lethal damage I had caused.

"...Do not grieve...for me..." the failing telepathic voice quickly grew very faint, draining the life from me as it went.

"NO!!" I screamed, pounding my fists on the deck, "No, Bane! Not like this! I'm sorry! I-I didn't know!"

I suddenly felt very alone as only the sound of my own sobs filled my thoughts.

"Bane?! BANE!" I screamed at the still form before me, at loss for what to do. In that instant, my mind barked out an answer. I always kept a charged TRA in the Consolation for emergencies.

"Please don't die, Bane!" I cried as I leapt to my feet, energy suddenly surging through my body, "I'm going to get help!"

I poured the last reserves of my strength into my legs, running harder than I ever had in my life. The sound of my boots pounding on the metal grating echoed hollowly through the Merchant III as I retraced my steps. I reached the metal catwalk and all but threw myself down the ladder. I hit the deck hard and collapsed because of my wounded leg, but I dove back to my feet and sprinted onward.

The rows of containers in the cargo hold flashed by and I slide to a halt on the service lift. I pounded the descend key with my fist repeatedly, cursing the slow hydraulics until the platform was clear of the hull on the bottom side. Without regard, I jumped off the lift before it reached the ground and rolled to absorb the shock from my fall.

The cool night air made my lungs sting as I sprinted the last few yards to the Consolation. Mr. Linard saw me coming and climbed out of the co-pilot hatch, babbling in astonishment,

"R-Reece?! You're hurt! What happened?"

I growled in frustration, shoved the old man aside and climbed in over the seat. Chaos briefly ensued inside the ship as I tore through the storage compartments in search of the TRA. After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, I found the healing machine and jerked it from it's case. The power cells were still at ninety percent. I leapt back out of the door, ignoring the old man's questions as I ran for the Merchant III with everything I had left.

By the time I reached that hallway again, my legs felt like rubber and my lungs burned from exertion. The red back-up lights were still on as I crashed to a halt in front of the distribution closet again. I panted heavily as I hauled the bulky contraption into position, switched it to automatic bio-detection and jammed the trigger.

The machine hummed for a moment, searching for a life signature to lock to, but, to my horror, it only stopped and buzzed obnoxiously.

"God damn it!" I screamed, cuffing the TRA with my open hand before trying again. Once more, the machine searched and failed.

"...Bane..." I gasped desperately, stubbornly jerking the trigger again. The machine hummed, scanning again, when it suddenly bleeped and it's light began flashing.

My hands trembled as I watched the healing light strobe over the Hunter-Killer's motionless body. I held the machine until the power level drained to zero before finally hurling the thing aside. Bane was still severely scorched, showing no signs of life at all.

"...Please..." I choked, feeling the knot reforming in my throat, "PLEASE!"

I was ready to give up and collapse right there; I killed my best friend–I didn't want to live anymore. Then, ever so slowly, the creatures eyes stirred and opened.

"Bane?" I asked with a failing voice.

At last, the telepathic voice graced my thoughts once again,

"...It is good to see you...my friend..."

To Be Continued....


	18. Bane 18: Tribulations

"...It is good to see you...my friend."

My mouth hung open as words failed me. Wracked in relief and sudden exhaustion, my brain refused to function. Finally, with the unreal beast staring up at me, the thoughts came,

"When...how did you find me?"

The hunter killer still didn't move while it's telepathic voice spilled into my mind,

"I knew that fate would allow my return someday...yet, I never believed it would take so long–please forgive me."

With that, Bane shifted on the floor, trying unsuccessfully to stand before collapsing with a snarl of pain. Watching this made me wince, and I felt worse than ever.

"I should be the one apologizing," I retorted almost bitterly, "I'm so sorry for what I did to you...I...I'm-"

Bane cut me off as I began trailing,

"Think not of it! You have kept yourself from harm; it is all that matters."

I got to my feet and offered Bane a hand, but the hydralisk promptly waved it off with one blade. This time, he hooked a scythe around the crumpled doorway and managed to haul himself into a standing position.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked carefully, afraid of what the answer might be.

"Given time, my health will recover."

Although the creature still towered over me, my memory recalled Bane being taller than the hunter-killer before me. I was somewhat confused until I remembered that I was just a kid when I last saw my scythe-wielding companion.

Bane seemed to read my thoughts, announcing what I was about to say before I could put it into words,

"It has been too long, my friend. Many troubles have found your world in my absence."

I gave Bane a cross look,

"What do you mean 'many troubles'? Sightings of the zerg on Hiemdall are the lowest in the sector; the zerg have practically disappeared since you left."

Bane's crimson eyes glowed briefly brighter as the answer came,

"The enemy may have vanished, but they were not defeated. Now the threat lies on the mantle of the Protoss. Even as we speak, the first-born wage a losing battle against my species. Our time of destiny is at hand: they must be stopped-"

I shook my head,

"Destiny and the Protoss can wait-we've got to get you patched up! Do you think you can make it outside?"

The smoldering monster snarled irritably,

"However formidable was your defense, let not it sway neither your confidence in my ability nor my pride! Stand aside, mortal."

I laughed out loud, finally able to let go of my tension; my old buddy was going to be okay.

"Good to have you back," I announced as I scooped up my C-8 and limped out of the distribution closet, allowing Bane enough room to squeeze through the doorway.

I was at odds with myself as I paced down the corridor with my ten-foot-friend at my side. On one hand, I was still in a state of shock and pure content to have Bane back, but on the other, it felt infinitely strange to leisurely stroll down the same hallway where-just minutes ago-we were trying to kill each other.

"So, Bane," I said, trying to break the awkward silence, "Whatcha' been doing all this time? Where have you been?"

The over-sized hydralisk growled almost thoughtfully as it slithered along beside me,

"My abilities as a cerebrate have been a curse these long years: To be set amongst my brethren only to be found and slaughtered, to awaken with the blood of the innocent staining my blades in mid-battle, and to know that I could do nothing to stop the nightmare from happening again..."

Bane paused as we rounded a corner, only continuing after another long moment of silence,

"...It was enough to make one wish for the peaceful darkness of the void. Only the promise I made allowed me to keep my sanity."

_...You have only to stay alive, I shall return for you..._

"More and more frequently, I found myself in battle with the Protoss. I resisted my brethren's motives and aided the doomed warriors where I may, but each passing confront pushed the First-Born back again and again. It is by this witness that I know our time is short. If we do nothing, the Zerg will succeed in their ultimate goal of assimilation, and then all life in the universe shall fall to their ambitions."

"Huh," I mumbled in slow comprehension, "That does sound pretty serious, but how can we stop something like the zerg?"

Bane released a great sigh that swirled the air in the hallway before answering my question with the response I was afraid of hearing,

"I do not know."

We continued in silence until the corridor ended at the ruined catwalk in the reactor chamber. I stopped long enough to really survey the damage for the first time. The warped grating was peeled open like a great can in font of the threshold, and half its perimeter was riddled with rips and holes.

"Wow," I noted in quiet astonishment, "Mich is gonna have a stroke when he gets the collateral bill from these guys-we sure made one hell of a mess!"

"An excellent display of our work," Bane added just before he dropped through the hole he made earlier to the ground floor below.

I made my way around to one of the ladders that remained and began climbing down. Bane was already there to meet me before my boots met the deck.

"While we're on the subject," I asked as we continued toward the forward hangar, "What happened to the crew?"

The hunter-killer stared into space for a moment before responding,

"I sense they are still alive; huddled in a remote corner of the ship. Upon landing, they were trapped by my brethren."

Next, we reached the elevated platform at the head of the cargo hold. I gestured toward the slain zerg as we passed through,

"What the hell happened here?"

Bane followed me down the ramp, answering again as we slipped among the cargo containers,

"That was the place where I took new life. I awoke with my blades buried in the body of a hapless, unarmored Terran, but when I attempted to let this being go free, I was attacked by my own brood-mates."

"I see now," I announced as we came to the service lift at last, "So that's how Jim got out alive."

The hunter-killer slithered onto the platform beside me and I hit the descend key. Operating on backup power, the motors whined pitifully. As the lift cleared the bottom hull and approached the ground below, I heard a yell and looked down to find Boss, T.J. and Mosely standing outside. They where fully decked out in their armored suits and combat rifles, and they all jumped with a start as the monster at my side became visible. I stepped in front of my friend as the platform jolted to a stop,

"Wait!" I yelled, holding my hands up, "Don't shoot!"

They all stood there a moment, watching unblinkingly from behind the sights of their guns. Slowly, Mich lowered his rifle and spoke in a whisper of disbelief,

"You're shitting me...it can't be..."

"It hasn't killed him yet," T.J. noted, "It must be, but...how?"

"I wouldn't shit you, Boss," I announced, "You're my favorite turd!"

Boss ignored my joke, still staring as if he didn't believe what his eyes where telling him,

"Is it...really him?"

"The one and only," I answered proudly, stepping aside to let them see, "The big, bad bug is back!"

Another moment of silence passed as they lowered their weapons and looked among one another briefly, but it was struck down as all three of them practically exploded.

"Biggie!" Boss cried out as he dropped his gun and jumped forward, "Great to have you back!"

T.J. didn't waste any time adding his bit,

"Where have you been? How did you get here?!"

"What does this mean?"

The hunter-killer backed away some as the procession swirled around him. Bane didn't bother to entertain any of the questions that I already asked until Mosely spoke up,

"How da' you feel?"

Everyone was quiet again, waiting intently for the answer. Finally, Bane graced them with a low growl and a few words of his telepathic voice,

"I feel....hungry."

The sun's were beginning to rise as the slanted roof of the Farside diner appeared in the distance, pushing the night sky back with a dome of bright pink from the horizon. With only a few hours sleep in the past day or so, I should have been exhausted, but with my friend back, I felt lighter than air. T.J. rode in the seat next to me and jabbered on about everything that had happened in the past eight years. Bane didn't say much; he mostly just listened and occasionally reminded us of his hate for flying.

"This is the place, Biggie," T.J. announced as I brought the Consolation down in the sandy lot in front of the Farside, "The best grub this side of Hiemdall, and breakfast is on me this morning!"

I took one look at the hydralisk that occupied half the cargo hold and had to slouch under the ceiling, then laughed.

"Are you sure you can afford that?" I asked while shutting down the engines.

The unsuspecting mercenary shrugged,

"It's just one hydralisk; how much could it eat?"

In the windshield, Mich's craft drifted into view as it touched down a short distance away. I gave up arguing with T.J. and unbuckled my harness,

"Alright, man, but don't come crying to me when Boss has to give Maggie your checks for the next two weeks."

I hit the release for the cargo door and hopped down from the pilots hatch, meeting Bane at the ramp before we joined the rest of the crew in a huddle between the ships.

"Alright, boys and zerg, listen up," Boss announced, holding his hands up for silence, "Maggie is about as sharp as they come; so we're gonna have to play this just right. Nobody mention anything about a hydralisk. If she asks, and she will, Biggie here is just an old friend from out of town. She's run into telepath's before, but..."

Mich paused and looked in Bane's direction, "She'll know something's up if she hears your...voice. So if you have something to say, try to make sure that we're the only ones to pick it up."

"Very well," the hunter-killer agreed.

Carefully, I eased my head into the diner and checked for customers. Luck was with us this morning. It was still early; the bar and tables sat empty. The wooden planks of the Farside's floor creaked and groaned under Bane's weight as T.J. and I held the double doors open long enough for the hunter-killer to pass through. We all fanned out and approached the counter as if this was a another morning just like any other. Maggie was at her usual place in front of the grill, seasoning a few dozen steaks at once.

"Good morning Miss Maggie," Boss said casually, "What's the breakfast special today?"

The heavyset woman kept her back to us as she worked and answered over her shoulder.

"Good marnin boyz; todee eas steek an' eegs-half preece for you."

"Sounds good Miss Maggie," Boss replied cooly, "Start us off with five plates."

Without a seconds hesitation, Bane reached between us and jabbed Mich in the back with a closed scythe-joint.

"Make that six orders," he corrected.

Bane jabbed again.

"B-better make that seven!" Boss stammered as the force of the second blow made him stagger forward.

Maggie replied again without turning from her work,

"I be wit ya soon, boyz. Have a zeat."

We were almost home free, but as we began to slip by, Maggie suddenly turned around and approached the counter while wiping her hands on her apron.

"Reeze," she proclaimed suddenly, "Who's yer new fren?"

We all visibly winched, but Boss and the rest of the crew offered no help, abandoning me for a booth in the back corner.

"H-how'd you know we're friends?" I stuttered, trying to buy myself time. Maggie only laughed,

"I may be blind, Reeze, but I con see de strong connection. Whey don you introduze us?"

"Well, I...you see..." I rambled, searching for the right words. Without warning, Bane's voice penetrated my spiraling thoughts,

"Reece, we are found. This large Terran stares directly at me."

I had to stop myself from answering out loud, and instead tried to focus the words in my mind,

"Don't sweat it, Bane. She's blind."

Apparently, the trick worked. The hydralisk's astounded response didn't hesitate,

"Blind? This creature has eyes yet lacks the ability to see the world?!"

"You got it," I thought back, "But don't underestimate her; she's an awesome shot with a plasma cannon, even though I have no idea how she aims the thing."

Bane didn't reply. Instead, I only felt a wave sorrow and pity.

"Eif you have aye cold tongue, boy, I con ask for meself," Maggie announced suddenly, "Whatz yer name, strenga?"

"He can't tell you!" I suddenly burst out, "He...he's a mute."

Maggie huffed in exasperation and put her hands on her hips,

"I con tell yer hidin' somethin, but eats not my business to pry. Have a zeat child, and yer nameless frien' as well."

"Whew!" I whispered as we moved to join Boss and the rest of the gang, "That was a close one."

"Real smooth, Reece!" T.J. laughed as I plopped down in my seat.

"Shuddup," I grumbled, "You guys were a _real_ big help."

"What's the matter kido?" Boss asked sarcastically while he opened his daily news paper, "I thought you preferred going solo."

Unwilling and probably incapable of sitting at a booth, Bane simply stood over us and drooled more than usual as the aroma of the frying steaks filled the building. We waited on our order in silence, but it wasn't long before Maggie approached, arms loaded with steaming plates up to the elbows. She casually slid a platter in front of each of us, but stopped at the last three with a quizzical look on her face.

"The bar will do Miss Maggie," I answered quickly, "My...friend prefers to stand."

She simply nodded and set the remaining plates down on the bar beneath Bane's eager maw before leaving us to our meal.

Mich, T.J. and Mosely dug right in, but I watched Bane curiously. Very gently, as not to shatter the porcelain, the hydralisk stabbed the closest steak and jammed it into its mouth, bone and all. Bane chewed slowly, crunching the bones without effort, before finally swallowing with a deep, satisfied growl. If Maggie heard it, she showed no signs.

"Absolutely incredible!" Bane exclaimed with obvious pleasure, "Such taste! Such flavor..."

I couldn't suppress another laugh,

"Beats the hell out of frozen chicken, doesn't it?"

"If there is one thing Terrans truly know," the hydralisk added while it mercilessly attacked the next portion, "It must be this."

Thirteen plates later, Bane finally began slowing down. We had all long since finished our own breakfast and watched in amazement as the hydralisk hungrily devoured steak after steak until the empty plates began pilling high on the bar. The final count ended at twenty, when Maggie flatly refused to bring another one.

"Reeze, yer frien eaz an animal!" Maggie said in disgust as she began to haul the dirty dishes away by the arm-load. As if to confirm her statement, the hydralisk unleashed a ghastly belch mixed with a gratified snarl,

"I demand that you give this wondrous creature my gratitude for the best meal I have ever had the pleasure of receiving."

"Sure thing, buddy," I chuckled as we all stood to leave at last.

"My friend gives his most sincere compliments to the chef," I announced to Maggie as we passed the counter and headed toward the door. The heavy woman only scoffed, dumping the load of dishes in a sink in the corner. Boss and Mosely opened the doors for a stuffed, wavering hydralisk, but I hung around long enough to watch the color drain from T.J's face after Maggie handed him the check.

"Well, Reece," Mich announced as we regrouped in the sandy lot outside, "Me and the boys have a little business to take care of, but I want you to take the day off."

"No arguments here," I agreed with a yawn. Boss nodded and looked up to Bane,

"Biggie, it's good to have you back. Is it safe to assume that you'll be resuming your services for our little organization?"

"As I recall," the hydralisk answered matter-of-factly, "It is you who owes service to me. As much as it would please me, I am not here for food in exchange for fulfilling your agenda. The Protoss home-world and her twilight sister, Shakuras, are under siege from the swarms. I require a ship that we might go to the aid of the First-Born."

Mich was caught off guard by my friends response. He hesitated for a long moment, nervously rubbing the back of his neck before he was able to look Bane in the eye again,

"Well, you see, Biggie...It's not that I've forgotten everything you did for us; the problem is the ship. It would take a major cruiser to reach that sector of space--all we have are light craft."

"Will not the ship I helped you to take suffice?!" Bane suddenly growled.

"That's just the problem," Boss stuttered, "The salvage laws on Hiemdall have changed a lot since I was last here. It didn't take any time at all for the authorities to figure out that the battle cruiser was stolen. Me and the boys escaped the most severe consequences, but Hiemdall defense is still holding the bird over my head in exchange for our services."

"_What services_?" The hydralisk's telepathic voice hissed with agitation. Suddenly, Boss perked up again,

"Glad you asked, Biggie! The Defense's list of chores always seems to find a way of growing faster than we can whittle it down. However, I happen to know that they're in a major bind right now over the Ellison's illegal weapons trade. If you can help us close their little business for good, the Defense will happily return the ship."

"There is no time for this!" Bane snarled angrily, "Do you not care that all life is at risk of being extinguished?!"

Mich backed away a few paces as the hydralisk advanced on him, holding his hands up in surrender,

"E-easy there, Biggie! We can't just take the ship back! It's under guard by some really nasty hardware, and even if we could get past that, they would blast us out of the sky before we even reached low orbit. I'm telling you; this is the only way I can help."

Bane stopped, growling in frustration as he considered our options. Finally, with a rumbling sigh, the hydralisk admitted defeat,

"So be it! However, know this without doubt: if there is any further delay I shall make you _wish_ for the swift wrath of my brethren."

Mich smiled nervously, but his wit didn't fail,

"Don't you worry your pointy, brown head, Big's. Help us take down the Ellisons, and the ship and our services will be as good as yours."

Just then, one of the Farside's doors swung open and T.J. slowly meandered into the group with a mixed look of shock and grief on his face. I couldn't pass up the chance for a good laugh as I slapped him on the back,

"I tried to warn ya, buddy! You can't exactly expect a half-ton alien to be a light weight at chow-time."

"Well," Boss announced, "We better get going. I've got to make a lot of calls to make to get this plan off the ground. You two get rested up and we'll start to work on the Ellison's first thing in the morning."

"We're here, Bane," I announced over my shoulder as the Consolation settled into the sand a short distance from the tree line. I hit the release for the cargo door before climbing out through the pilots hatch, but the hydralisk failed to meet me outside.

"Bane?" I asked in confusion as I paced around to the back side of the craft. My friend had only moved a few feet out of the ship and stopped, staring out over the ocean. I tried to see what he was looking at until the telepathic words spoke up in wonder,

"Where...what is this place?"

"It's the beach," I answered dully, "You know; where the ocean meets the land?"

"I have never witnessed such serenity," Bane stated with a sense of awe, "You live here?"

"Sure do," I nodded, "Pretty sweet, huh?"

The hydralisk didn't answer me, and, instead, continued gazing out to sea.

"Well," I yawned, "My place is the bunker just past the trees, in case the sun starts to get to you. I'm beat, so I'm gonna hit the sack."

Bane only mimicked my nod without breaking his deadlock on the surf.

I unlocked the bolt to the door of my bunker and stumbled inside, peeling layers of tactical armor off as I made my way to the sink. A haggard reflection met me in the mirror. One eye was slightly bruised and dried blood caked my hair. Boss had loaned me his TRA to fix my slashed leg and busted scalp before we left for the Farside, but it didn't do much for my appearance. I sighed and turned on the faucet, cupping my hands and splashing my face with the cool water until most of the dirt and blood was gone.

With bed so close, I felt more tired than ever. I left my armor and boots on the floor where I dropped them in a trail from the door. Only my C-8 and the gauss pistols got special treatment in the form of their pegs on the wall. Finally, I collapsed on the bunk, ready to end the day before it ever really began. I gave one last thought to how great it was to have my friend back and was fast asleep in seconds.

It was the same dream from before; I recognized it instantly. The dark shapes of the zerg surrounded us, but didn't make a move to attack. They seemed to be watching intently as a shadowy, winged being stepped from their ranks. Bane was there again, as well, but I could sense something that I'd never felt from the steadfast hydralisk. Fear and uncertainty clouded the air like a dense fog. Lightning fingered across a turbulent sky, briefly illuminating the menacing antagonist before us. Though brief, the image burned into my memory like a hot coal.

This thing was once human long ago, but it was left twisted and mutated by the touch of the zerg; a Terranoid figure patched over with carapace and ugly blades that oozed with venom. It's hands were more like claws, and a pair of skeletal wings protruded from somewhere on it's back. Only the face was left mostly unchanged, except the skin had adopted a pale, ghastly shade of green. The sickly, pupil-less eyes were perhaps the most malevolent feature, glowing a fierce, piercing yellow in the darkness.

Like the wailing cry of a thing possessed, the creature spoke with a mouth full of jagged, fangish teeth. I didn't want to listen, but the syllables drilled relentlessly into my thoughts. However horrifying the voice may have been, the words it spoke struck me to the core,

"...You have done well...My pet..."

I sat bolt upright from a sound sleep. I had no idea what awoke me until a familiar sound rattled the peaceful evening: gunfire. It was close, only a few dozen yards away, toward the beach. Then a series of shouts and automatic fire mixed with the not-so-distant roar of a feral beast in mid-battle.

"Bane!" I gasped, leaping out of bed. I gave no thought to my armor or even my boots as I snatched the C-8 from its pegs on the wall and slung my ammo box out from under the bunk. The chaos outside grew in volume and intensity as I hastily filled the shell launcher to capacity and burst outside, into the cool night air.

I could see the collective muzzle flashes between the trees as I rushed forward, crashing through the brush like a wild man. As I reached the edge of the jungle, I spotted a second craft parked on the beach just a stone's throw from the Consolation. Four soldiers in armored suits stood shoulder to shoulder at its rear door, all firing in unison at the shadowy hulk that was my friend. Another pair were a few paces forward and to one side with their backs to me, adding their rounds to the barrage.

Two bodies already lay motionless in the sand as Bane charged through the crossfire toward the ship, blades reared high. The men scattered in panic, diving off to either side as the hydralisk plunged into them, but one was too slow. An agonized scream pierced the night air and Bane held his impaled victim high, growling fiercely. Despite the rounds that sparked and bounced from it's carapace, the hydralisk turned and hurled the hapless fighter to the sand, shifting to face the remaining soldiers that regrouped at his flanks.

I stood awestruck for a moment while Bane staggered through the deluge for another attack, but the soldiers retreated as the hydralisk advanced, allowing more time for their comrades to pelt the hydralisk with lead. I had never even pointed a weapon at another Terran before, but now I was left without a choice. Dropping to one knee, I switched the C-8 to impact detonation and took careful aim for the powered suits that still had their backs to me. For a moment, I hesitated, unable to pull the trigger, but a snarl of pain from my friend was all the encouragement I needed.

The C-8 belched flame as I let the canister fly. A split second later, a crackling ball of fire engulfed my target and illuminated the beach. I instantly felt sick as gory, smoldering pieces of the slain marine rained down in all directions. The other was launched a short distance away by the blast and lay slumped in a heap on the sand. Surprised by the sudden assault from the trees, the remaining gunmen backpedaled wildly for the cover of the Consolation, desperately feeding round after round to the angry monster that bore down on them.

I jumped up and sidestepped through the jungle, trying to beat the soldiers to the other side of my ship, but they stayed too close the craft to allow another shot without damaging the Consolation. Then, the tell-tale sound of a magazine running dry mixed with the chaos, and the last two soldiers abandoned their friend as he fumbled with a new clip. Now without bullets to slow his movement, Bane lunged forward, crushing the panicking assailant to the ground in passing, and continued to pursue the last two marine's as they tore off up the beach.

Hindered by the dense sand, Bane couldn't match their speed as they disappeared into the night. Yet, just before they could break into the trees, the hydralisk's spine cavity whipped open in the blink of an eye and its body convulsed, sending a cluster of deadly spikes whistling through the air. A distant cry confirmed a hit, and one of the silhouettes toppled onto the beach while the other vanished into the jungle.

Bane stood panting, watching the spot where our last would-be assassin disappeared, while I stepped from the trees. Gleaming in the moonlight, a few trails of blood seeped from the hydralisk's lightly armored tail and began forming little pools in the sand.

"You okay?" I asked as I approached, shifting my gaze back and forth from my friend and the tree line.

"Save for mere scratches," Bane growled, still trembling from adrenaline, "Who were they?"

"I dunno," I admitted, "When did they get here?"

The hydralisk never abandoned it's watch while it's telepathic voice shimmered among my own thoughts,

"They came after night fell. I did not know if they were acquaintances of yours until I saw their weapons. Upon my approach, they attacked."

I stepped around my friend and trudged up the ramp to the Consolation, frowning as I found holes in the hull's port side from the firefight. A moment later, I located my flashlight and returned to the scene to inspect the bodies. Their mismatched armor and weapons told the story.

"The Ellisons..." I grumbled, rolling one of the marines over with my bare feet. Then, my eyes ran across the gory remains of the rebel that took my C-8 round in the back. I immediately broke out in a cold sweat as another wave of nausea swept over me. I turned away in disgust, taking a seat on the Consolation's ramp before my quivering knees could dump me on the sand. Satisfied that the lone enemy would not return, Bane approached and noticed my discomfort.

"What troubles you, mortal? Were you injured?"

"No," I gagged, "It...its just that I've never killed anyone before. I...I'm..."

I trailed off as words failed me, but my friend seemed to understand.

"Fret not of it," the hydralisk growled softly, "These creatures would have held no such regret over your death. Your involvement came on the stead of necessity."

"Yeah, I know," I replied with a sigh, trying to regain my bearings, "But that still doesn't make it right. I...I wish there was another way."

Bane didn't have an answer for that. The hydralisk only watched in silence as I panted, fighting to keep from spilling my guts. At last, I was able to stand and think again.

"They may have turned tail for now, but they'll be back," I stated cooly, "It's no longer safe to stay here. We better lay low for a while."

I took one last glance at the corpses before looking back to Bane,

"The Defense core won't like this. Take the bodies up the beach a ways and drag them into the trees. The last thing I need is to be locked up for interrogation."

The hydralisk nodded with a growl and turned to its grim task while I paced warily back to my bunker to collect the rest of my weapons.

"Meet me back at the ship," I announced over one shoulder, "We'll head to the Farside early and wait for Boss and the crew."

The clouds drifted out to sea and the stars shone bright in the clear night sky as the Farside's transponder began drifting into the scanners range. To my dismay, an unfamiliar ship already sat in the parking lot as I brought the Consolation down to the sandy earth.

"Better wait here," I told a disappointed hydralisk as I unbuckled my harness, "It looks like Maggie still has some lingering patrons."

"Open the door," Bane suddenly declared as I reached for the com-link.

"Why?" I asked in confusion.

"If you are ambushed again, I do not wish to further damage your ship in order to provide my assistance."

The hydralisk's logic was correct; I could barely afford to have the new bullet holes patched, much less replace a cargo door, too.

"A good point," I agreed, punching the button for the rear door, "But you'd best hang tight until the place clears out. Maggie's no joke with that plasma rifle."

I cut the power to the engines and snatched the communicator from the Consolation's dash and dialed it to Mich's frequency.

"Hey Cap'n," I hailed, "You out there? We've got a little problem."

I was surprised when Boss's voice came back only a few seconds later,

"What's happening on your end, kid?"

"It's the Ellison's," I reported nonchalantly, "They paid Bane and I a visit earlier this evening. Looks like our secret's out; they came packing heat."

There was a moment's hesitation this time before Mich's response came,

"Sounds serious. Did you clear outta there?"

I sighed and rubbed my eyes; I was still tired from the day before,

"Yeah, we're holed up here at the Farside now. You in the neighborhood?"

"We're about ten clicks out and closing," Boss said quickly, "Head on in and grab a table; we'll be there shortly."

"Can't right now. Maggie's still got a few customers buzzing around. Me and Bane are just gonna wait them out until..."

I trailed off as I glanced over my shoulder and found the cargo bay empty. I sat upright and turned around in my chair,

"Bane?" I asked the vacant hold.

I whipped around and my eyes snapped wide as I spotted the hydralisk on the front porch of the diner, pushing its way through the double doors as if it's name was on top of the guest list.

"Oh good lord, no!" I gasped, fumbling with the latch of my door, but it was too late. Before my boots ever met the gravel, a series of piercing screams split the night air and I could vaguely hear a young woman cry out 'ZERG!'. Seconds later, a handful of people poured from the Farside's back door and bolted towards the craft sitting a few paces away. Bane had already disappeared inside, but not for long.

For a brief moment, I could just hear the high-pitched charge from Maggie's weapon of choice before a series of bright blue flashes lit every window of the Farside and illuminated the parking lot. Three shots later, the double doors shattered off their hinges as the hydralisk sailed out backwards, riding a wave of hot energy. Bane landed hard on his back in the dirt and slid to a halt, kicking up a plume of dust in his wake.

I rushed from the ship and fell to my knees next to my friend. The hydralisk's had taken the plasma bolts directly in the chest, and it's carapace was once again a charred mat of smoldering embers.

"I tried to warn you!" I panted, "Bane! Speak to me!"

Bane writhed on the ground and growled in disorientation,

"...Did you get the number of that carrier?"

Just then, Maggie appeared in the threshold with plasma cannon in hand, swearing malevolently,

"Damnable beast!" She howled as she held the butt of the weapon to her shoulder and took aim again, "Ar'll learn you ta' crash MY diner!"

"Maggie, NO!" I cried, diving off to one side as the large, enraged woman fired twice more. The punishing beams of energy blotted out my vision when they hit home, lighting their target and the dark night with plumes of intense, white fire.

Fortunately for Bane, and consequently all life that depended on him, Maggie's weapon chimed dully as it ejected a spent plasma canister and she could fire no more. She swore again and dug in her apron for another charge while the hydralisk lay motionless on the rim of a small crater in the parking lot. I jumped to my feet as Maggie began crossing the lot, running to get between her and my hapless friend.

"STOP, Miss Maggie! Please! It's not what you think, this is my-"

I was stopped short as Maggie promptly shifted in mid-stride and backhanded me so hard I saw stars and fell to one knee. I could taste blood in my mouth as I tried to regain my bearings, but she was already standing over the partially aflame hydralisk with a new canister loaded. At this point, I was ready to tackle the woman to the ground in attempt to save my friend, but she already had the weapon trained and her finger on the trigger. To this day, I still don't know what kept her from finishing Bane, but she didn't fire.

Nothing moved. In the background of the unnerving scene, Mich's ship drifted in from over the tree line and settled to the gravel with a whine of its thrusters. Boss, Mosely and T.J. piled out of the craft and jolted to a stop with wide eyes. They looked at Bane and Maggie, then to me, still on one knee with blood running down my chin, then back to Maggie.

"D-Don't do it, Miss Maggie!" Mich finally stammered, having taken in the situation.

"Geave me ONE reason why I shouldn't!" She yelled back, never flinching in the least.

"He's my best friend," I said, trying to remain calm as I got to my feet, "He's saved our lives more times than you'll know! PLEASE, Maggie! Give him a chance; he loves your cooking!"

Time seemed to hang in place. Soon, the only sound came from the bugs in the night and the crackle of Bane's smoldering carapace. Then, too my horror, Maggie jerked the bolt on her plasma rifle and it whined as the weapon charged to full power. Yet, out of the blue, Bane managed to save himself.

Trembling with the effort, the hydralisk lifted it's head and faced the woman behind the cold barrels. It's eye's glowed a brighter shade of red as a familiar telepathic twinge shifted the air, yet Bane's voice did not accompany it. I was at a loss for words; dumbfounded when Maggie suddenly dropped her weapon in the dirt and backed away with a gasp. She fell to her knees and her hands shook as she brought them to her mouth. Without warning, tears began streaming down her cheeks.

"...I..." Maggie practically whispered; totally in contrast to her anger from before. After a seconds hesitation, she continued, almost sobbing,

"...I've heard de people speak of tem...but not even in my dreams, could de stars...look so beautiful..."

By sharing his mind and senses with her, as he once did with me, Bane was able to give Maggie the priceless gift of sight and offer her the first glimpses of a world she had never seen before. Fortunately, Mich had the TRA on his ship recharged earlier that evening and we were able to repair some of the damage that Maggie's plasma cannon had inflicted. After words, Maggie and Bane spent the better part of an hour strolling slowly around the Farside, where he showed her images of the sky, the ocean and her own diner. We waited inside until they finally returned, Maggie still with tears staining her face. She constantly apologized for the assault, forcing Bane to stand still while she delicately swabbed at his remaining wounds with a wet towel.

"So Reeze," Maggie asked when she was finally satisfied that Bane was cleaned up to the best of her ability, "Thez was de fren' you brought yesterday, right under me nose?"

"Yes, ma'am," I answered from my seat at the bar, "Sorry we didn't tell you about him before-we didn't think you would understand."

Maggie moved around to her place behind the counter and started scrubbing her hands clean at the sink,

"You were reight, chile; I still don' unda'stand–but dat doesn't matta'." Maggie paused when she finished, turning to the corner where Bane still waited,

"Bane, precious, what would you lieke me fix?"

"The meal from yesterday would be glorious," the hydralisk answered without hesitation.

Maggie nodded and turned to the cold storage for the requested supplies. T.J. looked my way with a stark expression on his face and pulled his pockets inside out, proving that he was still broke from the last sitting.

"How are we going to pay for that?" I asked Maggie as she returned with a box of frozen steaks in her arms. She brushed the question off like a mosquito,

"I'd lieke ta see de sun come up; dat'll be payment plenty."

I laughed when T.J. slumped forward and banged his head on the table. Always in the mood for business, Mich waved me over to their booth with a more serious expression on his face. I left my place at the bar to stand in front of the them. A moment later, Bane was there with me.

"I pulled all the strings I have, but there's still a little snag." Boss reported, "It seems that the Defense's informant skipped town shortly after their meeting, sadly, without telling them a key point of information."

My thoughts started to drift as Caryn's image resurfaced from my memory, but Mich began again and brought me back to reality,

"The boys in Defense want the weapons trade shut down now if there's any hope of getting the Mark three back. They figure if we can hit their communications hub, it'll leave the rest of em' scatter-brained long enough to round them up without too much trouble. The problem is, nobody knows where this place is."

Flashes of the underground bunker complex, with its entrance hidden below the trees, sifted through my thoughts. That had to be the place.

"No," I interrupted suddenly, "I know where it is."

Shortly after Bane finished his sizable meal and 'paid' for it in full, I led the crew to the same spot Caryn had taken me the day before. We set the ships down in the same clearing and Mosely stayed behind to watch them while the rest of us began the long trek through the jungle. My tactical armor was more forgiving to the clinging underbrush than the guys' powered suits, but it didn't seem to matter. Bane made enough noise for all of us.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Mich asked doubtfully as he fought the cumbersome vegetation.

"Quiet!" I hissed, "The entrance is just up ahead. There will probably be armed guards outside; be ready with your rifles in case they hear us coming."

"Too late for that," T.J. whispered, pointing ahead with the barrel of his gun, "I think our secrets out."

He was right. A short distance through the trees, glimpses of dark armor could be seen as a number of the rebels closed towards us, slowly swinging their own weapons from one side to the other as they scanned the forest. Boss made a fist, signaling us to lay down. They were moving slightly off to our right, but there was no way we could remain hidden for much longer. As they drew closer, I counted three of them in powered suits. We couldn't risk a direct firefight with them; one injured man and our plan would be shot.

I put my hand to my headset, my words barely more than a breath with syllables mixed in, "It would be best to give them the wrong idea. They're expecting a terran assault; a zerg attack would catch them off guard."

Mich nodded from his prone position, waving a hand toward the advancing soldiers,

"Sick'em Biggie!"

The rebel patrol stopped short as the jungle suddenly came to life around them. Something huge was crashing through the trees like a deranged bulldozer, but they could do little to react as the hydralisk fell upon them with a malevolent roar and blades reared for battle. Muzzle blasts and shouts could be heard briefly, but the chaos died out as quickly as it started, leaving the forest eerily silent once more. A moment passed before Bane emerged from the trees again, blood staining his scythes and carapace,

"It is done," he announced flatly. I shuddered as I rose to my feet again, thanking my lucky stars that such a creature of destruction was on our side. We met no further resistance as we came to the clearing with the concrete bunker that served as the entrance to the under ground complex. I tried to give little thought to the guards that would have been here to stop us, had they not lay slain in the forest. The thick blast doors were sealed tightly shut, now standing as the only opposition between us and the ballistic carnage that awaited inside.

"Shit..." T.J. swore as he inspected the control panel, "It's gonna take me an hour to crack this thing; better go to plan B."

Without another word, T.J. and I moved to stand against the wall on one side of the door while Boss took up a position opposite to us. Bane slithered up to the door, tapping it here and there with one scythe joint, testing it for structural weaknesses before he deftly jammed both blades between the steel slabs. With a snarl of exertion, the hydralisk wrenched the doors open. The metal sheets crumpled into the door frame with a shower of sparks from the shorted pneumatics and an alarm suddenly blared from the inside.

"Let's move!" Mich barked, jerking the bolt on his gauss rifle as he followed Bane into the compound. I nodded, checked the safety on my C-8, and stepped inside after him with T.J. bringing up the rear. Just inside and down the first flight of stairs, the doors to the crews quarters on either side of the hallway flew open. Men in jump-suits, probably awakened by the blast of the alarms, rushed to the doorway only to skid to a stop, staring wide-eyed at the monster that waited in the hall.

Bane looked from one side to the other, his growl rumbling as a warning to the petrified soldiers. Boss stepped into one doorway while I moved to the other, weapons poised to fire. The unarmed men backed into their quarters again slowly, holding their hands up in surrender.

"We're just here for a little business venture, fellas," Mich announced before hitting a button on the control panel next to the door, causing the hatch to slide shut once more. I did the same on my end and smashed the panel with the butt of my rifle to keep them from opening it again once we were past.

Red lights flashed from their mounts on the ceiling, throwing their crimson glare on the cement walls as we continued deeper into the compound unhindered. All the doors were automatically locked by the time we reached the terminal room where Caryn had taken me last time.

"This is it," I gestured toward the thick steel hatch with the barrel of my weapon, "Their computer core is just inside."

Boss stepped by me and tried the handle, swearing when it didn't budge,

"You're up, Biggie," He said quickly, stepping aside to allow the hydralisk to do its work. Bane punched both scythes through the door and promptly twisted it from the frame with a snarl of effort, and that's when the trouble arrived.

The gunfire suddenly exploded around us, echoing like thunder in the confined passageway. A team of rebels had organized at the T-junction down the hall and opened fire in a concentrated hail, taking us by surprise. I was never so glad for Bane's bulky size as the cloud of lead rained down the corridor, bouncing and ricocheting off the hydralisk's dense carapace and the concrete walls.

Moving faster than anything so large should be able to move, Bane whirled around to face the enemies and hefted the steel hatch that was still stuck on his scythes, using it as a shield against the sheets of rifle fire. I hunkered behind Bane as he flinched and growled with the impact of the rounds while Boss and T.J. ducked into the terminal room. Mich looked to me from the safety of the doorway and cupped his hands to his mouth, yelling to overcome the thundering gunfire,

"Go take care of them, kid! We'll mop up in here and be right behind you!"

I nodded, gripping the C-8 like a childhood toy, but failed to make a move just yet. Despite having already done it once, I still didn't like the thought of firing a weapon directly at another human. However, it only took a single bullet whistling by my ear to change that: it was either them or us. I aimed the barrel towards the wall at an angle and jerked the trigger twice, sending a pair of rounds bouncing off the cement towards our enemies ahead. The explosions were deafening in the confined corridor and half the lights burst from their sockets in the ensuing blast wave.

Having taken cover from the grenades, the rebels' storm of lead ceased briefly. This was all the cue Bane needed. He lunged forward, nearly making me stumble over when he suddenly moved. Just before the hydralisk reached the junction ahead, the firing continued, but Bane charged headlong into the sheet of gauss fire, oblivious to the slight damage it caused. The hydralisk reached the corner and turned with the steel hatch, slinging it into the mob of stunned mercenaries to his right. They toppled to the floor as Bane then turned left and charged for the others with outstretched blades and a snarl of fury. I was right behind him, resisting the urge to look away when I drew my gauss pistols and emptied both clips into the men on the floor.

The muzzle flashes dazzled my eyes as the rounds pelted their armor full of holes. Still hunkering in Bane's shadow, I let the empty clips clatter to the floor at my boots before I dug in my ammunition belt for fresh ones. Behind me, the fighters backpedaled wildly before the wrath of this unexpected alien threat. The hunter-killer bore down on them like something escaped from a nightmare; the stray rounds the rebel squad managed to fire as they retreated only enraged the monster further.

One of them tripped while the rest rounded a corner and Bane wasted no time in slashing him aside. This time, I had to look away when the hapless soldier cried just before the blow came, nearly tearing the body in half as it was hurled against the wall.

Suddenly, a metal-sheathed hand grasped my shoulder and I instinctively spun around with both gauss pistols trained on the spot. TJ yelped and Boss pushed the weapons out of his face irritably,

"The charges are set in the terminal room!" Mich still had to speak up over the report of gunfire that echoed from just around the corner, "We've got five minutes to place the rest and clear out!"

I hesitated, looking back the way Bane had gone as TJ slipped by me, but Boss punched my arm in attempt to bring me back,

"Don't worry, kid: Bigs can take care of himself! We still have to find the com-hub and get back outta here before we go up with the place!"

With that, Mich stepped over the bodies of the rebels at my feet and followed TJ around the next bend. I stayed a moment longer, listening to the chaos behind me fade into the depths of the compound before I hurried to catch up.

The next corridor was surprisingly barren of life except for the three of us. Only the sound of our boots pounding on the cement floor accompanied the synthesized voice that repeated over the loudspeakers throughout the compound,

"Zerg signatures detected in sector two. Level three lock-down initialized. All personnel prepare for combat."

As we turned the next corner, a security checkpoint came into view. Two soldiers stood at each side of a large door and threw their weapons to their shoulders the instant they saw us. Then, one of them yelled "Freeze!".

Boss and TJ glanced at one another before hefting their own guns and jamming the triggers. A brief exchange of lead ensued until I leaned out from behind the bulk of TJ's powered suit and fired a round from my C-8. The explosive was set to impact detonation and when it hit the door between the guards, the blast sent them crashing to either side of the hall with deadly force.

Before the smoke cleared, TJ ran forward and relieved the dispatched gunmen of their key cards. However, Mich lagged behind, favoring one arm.

"I'm hit!" He grunted as I moved past him and took one card from TJ's outstretched hand, "You two finish up in there and I'll watch the door!"

I nodded and TJ said a quick "Right, Boss," before we moved to the panels set in the wall on each side of the door. It took us two try's, but we managed to swipe our cards simultaneously, unlocking the way to the communications room. TJ hit a button on his side and the doors parted ways, revealing a spacious area jammed with rows of terminals facing toward a large electronic map on the back wall. The unarmed technicians frantically running the equipment all turned to face us as if someone had blown a horn.

"Listen up, ladies! This is a raid!" TJ barked, waving his gauss rifle left and right.

"Last call for resignations," I added as I stepped in beside him, "Everybody out!"

We moved aside to keep our distance as the confused, frightened people abandoned their posts and rushed for the only exit. In seconds, we were alone with the humming electronics. TJ flung a pack from his shoulder into the center of the room and jerked his head towards the door,

"Job's done. Let's go!"

Before we could turn around, Mich unexpectedly crashed against us and sent us toppling to the floor in a heap. A split second later, gunfire erupted from down the hall and lead peppered the stations before us. I rolled hard left to escape the lethal torrent while Boss and TJ took cover on the right. A new squad of rebels had caught up and taken position at the front of the hall, trying to pin us in the com-hub with suppressive fire. I glanced at my watch, flinching as the bullets sparked off the door jam just a foot from my head.

"We've got less than two minutes!" I yelled over the booming gauss fire, "There's no time for this!"

TJ tried to hold his gauss rifle out in the ballistic downpour and fire blindly at the soldiers around the corner, but his weapon only managed half a dozen shots before chattering pathetically.

"I'm out!" He yelled, ducking behind cover once more. I attempted to do the same, but the gunmen doubled their efforts with stim-packs, forcing us to stay hidden behind the edges of the door.

"Where the hell is plan B when you need him?!" Boss hollered, still cradling his injured arm. I shook my head,

"Keep your suit on! He'll be here!"

As if on cue, the tell-tale roar of the beast rose above the crackle of gunfire. Fully concentrated on keeping us pinned down, the rebels were taken by complete surprise when Bane fell on them with vengeful blades. A series of screams rang out as the raining lead suddenly ceased, allowing me to flip around the corner and let fly with both gauss pistols. The soldiers had their backs to me now, vainly trying to subdue the monster that shrugged their rounds off and crushed one man after another with brutal swings of both scythes.

My own rounds pelted their armor, bringing a pair of them to their knees as Bane impaled their squad leader and hurled him against the rounded concrete ceiling. Without skipping a beat, the hydralisk brought its scythes down between the last two soldiers and shoved them against each side of the hall with enough force to shatter their visors and cleave their armor practically in half at the waist. In seconds, the hydralisk was the only thing still standing at the scene of carnage in the corridor.

After a moment of silence, TJ gave me a stunned looked and asked me in disbelief,

"And you actually stopped this thing yesturday?"

"Shuddup' you moron!" Mich barked before I could say anything, "Let's get the hell outta here!"

TJ and Mich ran ahead, following Bane back towards the main exit while I backpedaled with the C-8, guarding our escape. In places, the compound was a slaughter house; mangled CMC power suits lay sprawled in the floor and slumped against the walls of the passageways. I had to fight the urge to throw up until the steps for the front door came into view around the last corner. I glanced at my wristwatch once again. Less than thirty seconds now-this was going to be close.

Bane lunged up the steps with a single thrust of his tail and the guys clambered up after him. I was the last to leave the compound, panting as I made a break for the door. Boss and TJ were already in the trees by the time I made it outside, but Bane had waited on me. I only made five steps in the grass when the hunter-killer suddenly bear hugged me from behind. A split second later, the blast of the explosives quaked the ground beneath my boots and a cone of fire and shrapnel erupted from the open doorway of the underground complex.

The hydralisk growled doggedly as it shielded my body from the shockwave and flying debris. Flame coursed by on either side, scorching Bane's bullet-pocked carapace while bits of concrete rained down around us.

Bane released me as the smoke cleared and the crack of the explosion echoed into the distance. I turned to stare a moment at the ruined complex. A great column of black smoke was already rising into the sky and choking the clearing around the entrance. A shudder crept over me as I thought of the human life we took. No wonder, I thought, that despite our technology, the Protoss still considered Terran civilization to be primitive. Even after thousands of years, people still killed each other in the name of 'peace'. I jumped involuntarily when Boss called from the trees, snapping me from my thoughts,

"C'mon, kid! Are you waiting for the cavalry to show up or what?"

I shook my head, trying to convince myself that it was unavoidable, but I couldn't help taking one last look before I turned on the scene and ran to catch up with the rest of the crew.

"Head straight back to your place and pick up the rest of your gear," Mich hissed between clenched teeth as TJ handed him a set of surgical hemostats. The left arm of his combat suit lay on the ramp next to him in pieces, leaving the structural frame and the limb itself exposed from the elbow down. I averted my eyes when Boss sucked in his breath and dug in the wound for the bullet lodged in the meat.

"...How primitive," Bane growled, tilting his head to one side as he watched without blinking.

"We can't risk hanging around for a counter attack," Mich winched as he stared at the blood-soaked bullet he had extracted with the glorified tweezers. He flicked the round to the dirt while Mosely approached with the partially charged TRA, "We're gonna head to the shop and load up everything there. We'll meet you at the Farside before we all pull out together for the Klorian Reserve Shipyards in the morning."

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed with a nod, "Are you getting Kip in on this, too?"

"If we can pry the little prick away from those high-dollar commission jobs," Boss snorted as he began reassembling the pieces of his suit-arm, "I planned on making a run by his shop to fuel up and make a few repairs."

Mich paused again to point at my feet, where my shin plates hung on in duct tape-reinforced tatters, "You should consider doing the same."

"I might just do that," I added before I turned towards the Consolation and gave the attentive hydralisk next to me a punch in the arm, "Let's roll, Bane."

The evening suns were beginning to drift toward the ocean by the time we made it back to my bunker. I set the Consolation down on the sand in her usual spot and hit the release for the rear cargo door.

"I'll only be a minute," I called over my shoulder to Bane, "Stay here and guard the coast while I get my stuff. If you smell anything suspicious, let me know."

Just before I opened the pilots hatch, I turned back to the blood-stained hydralisk,

"And do us all a favor: take a romp in the surf to wash some of that crap off. You draw enough attention as it is without being covered in gore."

"As you wish," Bane growled in response as I unbuckled my harness and climbed outside. On the way into the trees, I swapped the clips in my gauss pistols for my last set of fresh ones. I had no idea if some of the Ellison's had come back here after the assault or not, but I wanted to be ready for them if they did. The bolt on the door was still locked as I warily approached the salt-worn bunker. Inside, everything was just as I'd left it earlier that morning. I sighed and slid my weapons back into their holsters, satisfied that nobody was around.

I methodically replenished my used clips before returning them to their places at my ammunition belt and topped off my supply of C-8 charges. Once that was done, I pulled a tired old duffel bag from under the bed and stuffed it with the remaining ammo. Almost as an after thought, I filled a second sack with a few extra changes of cloths and my toothbrush; there was no telling when we would be able to stop at another Terran settlement.

I took one last look at what had been my home for the last eight years and thought about how long I waited for this day. Only now, did I actually begin to ponder about what might come to pass after word. I shook my head and snatched the duffel bag off my bunk. With the other hand, I slung the sack containing my cloths over one shoulder and left without a word.

The jungle seemed calm and serene as I stepped outside and glanced around. I pushed the door shut with my shoulder, but the moment I turned around again, I took one step into the cold barrel of a gun.

I was rendered temporarily stunned and cross-eyed by the weapon that was unexpectedly thrust between my eyes and pressed against my forehead. Then, I focused on a familiar face scowling at me from behind the sights.

"Caryn?!" I gasped, unable to move, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You!" She practically spat at me, "You brought a bunch of your mercenary friends to the com-center and trashed the place!"

I dropped my bags and held my hands up slowly, "What's the problem? I thought you were done with those guys!"

"I would be if you weren't stupid enough to pull that stunt!" Caryn hissed at me, "Now the bastard's are after me, too!"

I actually began to sweat despite the cool evening air, but I still tried to reason with her, "Then what's this about? How would shooting me help anything?"

"It might just be good enough to clear my name," Caryn said coldly as she drilled into me with her piercing, blue gaze. I stepped back involuntarily, still holding my hands up in surrender, when Caryn's silenced pistol suddenly exploded in her hands.

We both jumped instinctively when Bane's well aimed needle spine obliterated the stamped-metal firearm. Pieces of it showered everywhere as Caryn whirled around to face the hydralisk that was now barreling through the trees towards us, growling and snarling like a thing gone feral.

"What the fuck?!" she swore in total shock and bewilderment. Before I could stop her, she reached out and expertly snatched one of my gauss pistols from my belt. I lunged to stop her, but she managed a quick burst of rounds before I could push her arm skyward and divert the gunfire. Despite the damage he still bore from the raid, Bane hardly flinched from the light automatic slugs as he charged towards us.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Caryn screamed as I struggled to wrestle the weapon from her grasp, "You're going to get us both killed!"

Finally, I tore the gauss pistol from her hands and spun around just as the hydralisk closed the distance with both scythes reared for destruction.

"Bane! Stop!" I yelled, waving my arms as I stood between Caryn and the charging alien. Bane came to a lumbering halt at the last moment and lowered his blades slowly. His crimson eyes still glowed brightly with the lingering adrenaline of battle when I heard Caryn breathlessly repeat her previous swear, only with a sense of confused awe this time.

"Who is this treacherous mortal?" Bane growled angrily, leaning over and around me to glare at the girl that uncharacteristically hunkered in my shadow.

"Holy shit," Caryn gasped again, "...It talks?!"

"Yeah, it talks," I barked at her over my shoulder, "And I wouldn't try that again if I were you! I don't know how many times I can stop him like this."

"Him?!" She scoffed in disbelief, "What are you talking about? What the hell's going on here?!"

I sighed and stepped aside, allowing the girl and the hydralisk to see each other face-to-armored-face for the first time.

"Caryn," I paused to gesture towards Bane with one hand, "Meet Bane. Bane, this is Caryn."

Caryn took a fearful step back as the hunter-killer moved towards her. After a full minute of staring at each other, Caryn finally reached out gingerly with one hand and touched Bane's rock-solid face with the tips of two fingers.

"This thing...is a hydralisk...a zerg hydralisk! I've never seen one in person before; are they all like...this?"

"Unfortunately not," I answered while nervously rubbing the back of my neck, "I still don't understand it, myself, but it's okay-we're old friends. This one won't hurt you...I think."

"That depends on future circumstances," Bane growled in warning, surprising Caryn into snatching her hand back when he suddenly spoke again. Her scowl returned as she glanced at me briefly before turning her attention back to the ten-foot monster an arm's reach in front of her.

"Where did this thing come from?" Caryn asked again. Apparently, she had no shortage of difficult questions, "How the hell did you find it?"

"That's a long story that I might tell you later if you ask nicely," I said with an exasperated sigh. Caryn frowned as she stared at the mangled shards of metal scattered at her feet,

"You could have warned me about your pet zerg! That wasn't a cheap gun; you owe me."

"Owe you?" I laughed half-heartedly, "Considering I could have let Bane split you down the middle, I'd say that makes us even. Besides, Bane's more fun with an element of surprise."

"I am no one's pet," Bane interrupted sternly, but I shrugged them both off and picked up my luggage once more.

"It's nice to see you again, princess," I grumbled as I slung the sack of cloths over my shoulder again, "But we do have prior arrangements to attend to. Now, if you'll excuse us-"

"Hold it right there," Caryn jerked me to a stop by the tactical armor on my back as I attempted to leave her by the bunker, "There's a price on my head because of you. You can't just leave me here!"

I gave Bane an annoyed glance, prompting the hydralisk to reach between us with the flat side of one blade and slap Caryn's offending hand away. Now that I knew I had held the cards for a change, I turned around to face her with a gloating look in my eyes,

"Why shouldn't I? The last few times I tried to help, you tried to bite my hand off."

For the first time, Caryn was actually at a loss for words. She stumbled a moment before she could come up with a reasonable response,

"Well," she snapped suddenly, "You promised my uncle that you would keep me safe from the Ellisons in return for fixing your precious ship!"

"Give me a break, sister," I laughed again, "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have needed those repairs in the first place."

Without warning, Bane interrupted our argument again with an agitated snarl before leaving us in front of the bunker.

"Too much time has been lost already, Reece. We must depart immediately."

"Get back here!" Caryn, obviously becoming infuriated, stamped her foot as we turned on her and began moving back towards the beach, "Where the hell do you think you're going?!"

"To save the galaxy," I called back sarcastically as I hurried to catch up with Bane.

I climbed back onboard the Consolation through the pilots hatch and pulled it closed with an exaggerated sigh. The ship shifted beneath me slightly as Bane hauled himself up the ramp and into the cargo hold. Then, the hydralisk's telepathic voice intruded my thoughts while I hit the switches to start the engine and close the cargo door,

"Do all females of your species behave in this manner?"

"God, I hope not," I shook my head as I buckled my harnesses again. To my surprise, the co-pilot door swung open and Caryn climbed inside.

I rolled my eyes as she plunked down in the seat next to me and began buckling up,

"What is it now?"

"You're pathetic," Caryn scoffed, "If you seriously want to parade around the sector playing hero-boy with your pet zerg, you're going to need someone around to keep you from getting yourself killed."

"You do understand that we're leaving the planet and might not make it back?" I glared at her with my best no-bullshit face, but she wasn't phased by it,

"Suits me," Caryn said nonchalantly as she pretended to inspect her nails, "I can't stay here anyway. Just keep Big n' Gruesome in line and we won't have any problems."

Out of frustration, I pounded my fist on the controls, "You're actually serious, aren't you?"

Caryn looked up from her nails just long enough to nod as if she was confirming what she wanted on a pizza. That's when I lost it.

"Well that's just too damn bad!" I barked, suddenly unable to contain myself, "Because I'm being serious, too: _You aren't going! Get off my ship!_"

My anger must have translated itself to Bane, because he suddenly snarled loud enough to make the windows rattle as he reared up as high as the ceiling would allow,

"Begone, miserable wench, lest I tear you apart!"

"You stay outta' this!" Caryn shot back as she sat up and became serious again.

"Listen here, _boy_," she glared at me with all the malice she could muster, "If I'm stuck here with the Ellisons, I'm as good as dead. And if that's the case, I've got no compunctions against telling them where you're going to be the moment you pull off this beach."

"You're full of it," I grumbled, "You have no clue where-"

At just the wrong moment, the radio crackled to life as Mich's voice chimed over the speaker,

"What's keeping you, kid? Tell Bigs to pinch it off, already! The Klorian Shipyards won't be open all night!"

My foot was so far in my mouth I could taste the synthetic leather as Caryn just smiled at me with a grin that stretched from one ear to another.

"Mich isn't going to like this..." I sighed as in defeat as I pulled on the throttle and brought the Consolation out of the sand. Behind me in the cargo hold, Bane made his annoyance known with a low growl,

"That makes two of us."

Kip's place doubled as a home and a workshop where he crafted many of the specialty weapons and prototype designs for the defense. However, it looked more like a small fortress. Set on the outskirts of town, it was the size of a hangar with stone walls along the perimeter. One of the three landing pads was occupied, and flood lights illuminated the area as I guided the Consolation down next to the other craft.

"You two just sit tight and try not to kill each other," I said as I snatched up my damaged armor, "This shouldn't take too long."

"The hell you say," Caryn snapped, unbuckling her harness, "I'm not stayin' alone in here with that thing!"

Before I could protest, Bane stepped in with his opinion as well,

"If _that_ mortal goes with you, so shall I."

"Alright, alright!" I threw my free hand up in defeat and hit the release for the cargo door, "Have it your way, kids! Everyone goes!"

The hydralisk lumbered out of the open craft as Caryn joined my other side from the co-pilots hatch. Next to a pair of shop doors large enough to accommodate a dropship, the front entrance was sealed by a double-riveted steel barricade with no windows. I walked up to it and hit a button on a panel to the side. An obnoxious buzzing noise rang from a speaker there before I spoke into it,

"Hey, Kip! Open up; I know you're awake in there!"

We waited a few moments in silence. Only the sound of the bugs in the night and the low rumble of Bane's breath made any noise. Finally, I pounded directly on the door with my closed fist,

"Get out here, you worthless lab rat, or I'll break the door down!"

"I highly doubt that," Kip's voice finally responded through the panel on the wall, "Just give me thirty-eight seconds: I've almost got this."

I looked up at the hydralisk that stood on my right and whispered,

"Could you?"

Bane studied the door a moment before answering with a confident growl,

"It would be no obstacle."

At last, the electronic bolts could be heard sliding open and the metal slab moved aside. Bright lights assaulted us from the interior of the building and it took my eyes a moment to adjust enough to see Kip standing there. He grinned at me from behind a comically large set of goggles that were built into a whole helmet full of optical enhancement equipment,

"You can't rush micro-circuitry, kid, even you know that. What's so important that you had to stop by tonight?"

"Me and the crew are pulling out soon and I need a few things; mostly ammo and some replacement armor," I said before I held up my mauled leg-plates. Kip slid the goggles back out of his face in order to inspect the armor,

"Throw those things away, they're trashed. C'mon inside, I'll get you a new set."

When Kip looked up again, without the lenses obscuring his vision, he nearly jumped out of his tool belts,

"W-what the hell?!" He stammered as several hand tools and instruments clattered to the floor around him, "You could have warned me, Reece! When d-did your alien buddy get back in town?"

Caryn laughed beside me as Kip picked up his equipment, "You were right: _it_ _is_ more fun when it's a surprise."

I ignored Caryn and answered Kip as I stepped inside, "It's a long story, I'll catch you up on it later. Right now, I just need those shin plates and a fresh stock of the usual grade."

Kip was temporarily fixated with Caryn while she walked in behind me before he shot me a wry smile,

"It's about time you found a girl, kiddo! We were starting to worry about you-"

"I'm not his _girl_!" Caryn barked the statement as if it were spring loaded, taking Kip by surprise.

"That's an even longer story," I sighed when he gave me a confused look. At last, Kip shrugged it off and waved for us to follow as he turned and walked briskly into the shop,

"You really ought to upgrade to the newer set," he called back to me while Caryn and the hydralisk followed on my heels, "This stuff's out-dated these days. You should see this new alloy I've been working with."

"No fancy crap," I shook my head as we maneuvered between benches and racks jammed with parts from weapons and armor to electronics and wiring assemblies, "Just the usual stuff."

We came to a stop in front of a set of lockers and Kip promptly used a ring of keys from his belt to open one of them. He pulled a new set of shin plates from a stack inside and turned to me just long enough to snatch the old pair from my hands and throw them in a dented metal garbage can in the corner.

"Here," he held the new armor pieces out to me, "They're on the house if you can keep Bane from knocking anything over."

"I'll see what I can do," I laughed, following Kip as he took off again.

"You know, if you could just give me fifteen minutes to take some dimensions, I could make some really awesome stuff and have it shipped to you when it's finished."

Kip had been studying Bane intently while he filled a few boxes with fresh ammunition for my weapons, and his creative curiosity finally got the best of him.

I glanced back at the hydralisk that waited patiently outside the small ammunition closet before turning back to Kip,

"For him? I don't think so. Bane doesn't think too highly of terran technology."

"That's a shame," Kip shook his head, "There's a lot of possibility there."

"Nice combat rifle," Caryn cooed from the opposite corner of the armory, where she stood inspecting one of the weapons on the rack, "How much would you take for it?"

"If you can convince your boyfriend to let me measure up his pet zerg," Kip said while raising an eyebrow, "I might consider letting you walk away with it."

"You stay outta this-" I tried to shoot Kip down, but Caryn was suddenly hanging off my side,

"C'mon Reecie', just five minutes! I _promise_, it won't take long."

I swallowed hard as she squeezed herself against me and I stuttered despite myself,

"H-hey, Bane. Would you do me a favor?"

"Not on your life," the hydralisk growled from outside the ammunition closet, apparently having heard the entire conversation, "There is no possibility of you or any other mortal convincing me otherwise."

"Hold still, Bane, you're only making this take longer!" Kip complained as he balanced on a ladder with a tape measure. Caryn giggled as she loaded fresh cartridges into her new, sniper edition C-7 and watched the whole procedure unfold. Bane growled in annoyance with the tape measure draped over his head and tangled around one arm. The hydralisk flinched every time Kip applied one of the motion capture sensors to different points on its carapace until he finally stood back and adjusted the camera,

"One last recording, Biggie," Kip promised as he jotted a final measurement down on a jumbled pad of paper, "Give me the left scythe joint this time-full range of motion."

My friend grumbled in aggravation, but complied, finally satisfying Kip's scrutinizing appetite for detail,

"That should do it, Reece," He piped with childish excitement, "This thing's gonna be some of my best work. One day, you're both going to thank me for this, you'll see!"

"Yeah, yeah," I yawned as I cradled the full ammunition crates under each arm, "Knock yourself out. Just don't get too carried away; you might not even be able to find us again."

"You just leave that up to me," Kip grinned before glancing to Caryn, "Take care of that C-7, I made er' myself."

Caryn answered with a simple nod and I called back to the hydralisk as we turned to leave, "C'mon Bane, you're all done."

The sensors all popped off at once as the hydralisk suddenly lunged forward and stretched them to the end of their wires, leaving Kip behind with his maelstrom of cords and numbers.

With some help from Bane, I managed to persuade Caryn into staying hidden on the Consolation when we met Boss at the Farside. The only way Mich would allow her to come along would be if he could no longer do anything about it. Maggie could tell that something was up, but we convinced her that we would just be leaving town for a few weeks until the worst of the Ellison's were rounded up. She gave us all hugs after we had our last meal there, but only Bane received a special gift in the form of a very large to-go bag.

Although she couldn't actually see us leave, Maggie stood in the parking lot and waved one of her huge arms feverishly as we pulled away.

"I still do not understand why we could not tell her the truth," Bane growled quietly from his place in the cargo hold. I shook my head,

"She can be tough when she wants to, but that old bird is very sentimental. Sorry, Bane, but if I told her that we might not come back, we'd _never_ be able to leave."

"Big deal," Caryn groaned from the co-pilot seat, "What's so important about that fat, old hag anyway? You guys kept me waiting in here for two hours!"

Bane's eyes glowed fiercely as he suppressed an enraged snarl and I practically choked,

"You talk about her like that one more time and I'll let Bane heave you out the back door! Have some respect; she's the closest thing I'll ever have to a mother!"

For once, Caryn's ice cold shell showed a brief glimpse of warmth,

"You don't know your parents?"

The Consolation swerved beneath us as I did a perfect double take, but I turned my eyes back to the windshield before I offered a response,

"Only vague images and bits of memory; I think my mom was a brunette. If you really must know, I was a war-orphan."

Caryn was a little slow to reply with a simple "Oh," before she finally turned away from me to stare out her window. The rest of the trip went on in silence until we began passing over the city. Boss's voice crackled over the radio, snapping me back from my thoughts,

"The shipyard is just up ahead. Follow me in over the small craft pads; our bird is the third one on the left."

"Roger that," I replied mechanically after I picked up the mic. Just ahead, the residential district ended abruptly as the Defense's shipyard drifted into view. Tall fences surrounded a huge compound cluttered with large buildings and a field of various ships all sitting on their landing gear. Marines in powered armor walked the perimeter and stopped to stare at us as we flew overhead. Stationed at multiple points, missile turrets rotated silently among the aisles of craft, guarding the sky with their sensors. Across the tarmac, a line of empty goliath war-walkers stood silently in front of the barracks.

Mich brought his ship down to the first in a row of vacant pads while I led the Consolation to the second. Moving at a jog, a pair of soldiers approached from their posts at a shack nearby. Mich climbed out of his craft without shutting down the engines and met them halfway. I couldn't hear what they said as I jumped down from the pilot's hatch, but everything appeared to be going smoothly until Boss handed them the release forms.

"There must be some kind of mistake," Mich yelled over the rush of the ship's engines as I walked up to them, "I had prior agreements with the Marshal at arms!"

"There's been a change of plans," One of the husky guards barked back, fingering the rifle he held in his hands, "New orders just came in: You and your boys are to be detained until further notice."

"What's going on, cap'n?" I yelled over the rush of the engines from our waiting dropships.

"Shut up!" The other guard ordered as he hefted his weapon to the ready, "You are both hereby under arrest on two counts of unauthorized vigilante action! Hand over your weapons!"

For a moment, I actually considered obeying the MP's, but then I thought of what they would do once they found Bane. Even if we were eventually released from our charges, there would be no telling what they might have in store for my friend.

Almost of its own accord, my hand found one of the gauss pistols at my side and jerked it free of the holster.

"Over my dead body," I growled at the guards from behind the sights of my gun.

"Don't be stupid, kid!" One of them warned, "You don't have a chance!"

While we held each other at gunpoint, more soldiers approached, surrounding Mich and I on all sides.

"You got any other bright ideas, Reece?" Boss looked around nervously as the men closed in.

Without warning, a body threw itself over my outstretched arm and forced my gun down. In that instant, the marines dog-piled on us at once. My gauss pistol was wrenched from my grasp as a soldier in a heavy armored suit tackled me to the pavement. I had a vague recollection of Mich hitting the ground somewhere beside me just before the metal boots rained on us.

I tried desperately to reach for my other gun, but a metal-sheathed foot buried itself in my stomach. Before I could begin to recover, another hammered the back of my skull and smashed into my ribs. I began to lose count of the kicks that fell on me until it was suddenly over as quickly as it began. Of the marines that stood above me, one of them hefted his rifle in the air, intent on delivering the knock-out blow.

"This'll teach you scum to mess with-" The soldier's threat was unexpectedly cut short as the point of one blade burst through the chest of his combat armor with a spray of blood. In the same instant, he was hurled off his feet, clearing me completely, and crashed landed into arms of the soldiers on my other side.

"ZERG!" Somebody bellowed as the soldiers scattered in panic. Bane stood over me with blades spread wide in challenge as he roared malevolently at the marines who still fumbled with their gauss rifles.

"Open fire!" One of them barked as they regrouped on either side. I covered my face with my arms when the deadly crossfire exploded just overhead. Bane snarled angrily as the bullets pocked and chipped his armored shell, but he didn't hesitate to charge after the gunmen on the left. As the hydralisk closed the distance and brought its scythes down on the next marine, the other group shot at my friend's open backside.

"Chew on this!" I grimaced as I pulled the C-8 from its holster and fired from a prone position. Totally focused on the rampaging hydralisk, my shell took the soldiers by complete surprise. It hit the tightly packed squad center-mass and exploded on impact, engulfing the men in the blast. The soldiers parted like bowling pins when the detonation hurled them to the pavement. I watched their smoldering bodies a moment to be sure they were gone before I rolled to a sitting position.

An alarm began wailing over the compound as the hydralisk chased down the last of its victims. Now the sole remaining member of his squad, the marine backpedaled towards the barracks, firing indiscriminately at the hydralisk that pursued with vengeful blades. Not willing to expend the energy of the chase, Bane stopped amidst the barrage of lead just long enough to counter-attack with a spray of his deadly spikes. The studded projectiles riddled the soldier's armor and knocked him to the ground.

"C'mon, kid! We got to get the hell outta here!" Boss's voice snapped me back to reality as I watched Bane turn back towards us. I looked up to see his outstretched hand offered to me and blinked in confusion before taking it.

"Get to the Mark three," I yelled as I regained my senses, "This is going to be our only chance!"

"They'll blast us into the stone age before we can take off with it!" Boss yelled back, but Bane was already standing with us again,

"Do as the mortal says," the hydralisk growled, "We shall buy you the time you need."

"You're just as crazy as the kid!" Mich called as he ran for his ship.

"Just make it snappy!" I called back before he climbed onboard the Interceptor four and tore off between the rows of docked ships.

"So," I said nervously as I watched the soldiers mobilize from their patrol routes along the perimeter and take up positions across the runway from us, "How did you get off the Consolation so fast?"

Bane remained silent a moment as the goliath pilots rushed to their machines and the engines roared to life,

"Caryn..." my friend said at last, as if having difficulty remembering the name, "Caryn opened the door for me."

I routinely checked the detonation setting on my shell launcher as the overwhelming military force coalesced before us. At last, with all their weapons trained on the hydralisk and I, someone called out with the aid of a mega-phone,

"You there, with the alien!" The voice echoed over the tarmac, "Drop your weapons and hold your hands above your head!"

Bane and I exchanged a glance almost casually before we suddenly parted ways, triggering an eruption of gunfire from the small army.

To Be Continued...


	19. Bane 19: Wayward Templar

There was only time for one clean shot at the four goliaths in the front of the formation. The C-8 bucked in my arms, hurling a single shell through the windshield of the war walker and into the pilot's lap. Bullets pelted the tarmac at my heels and whistled by my ears as I sprinted the last few yards to the cover of my ship. Its delay fuse spent, the explosive round detonated inside the goliath before its fumbling pilot could fish it out of the foot compartment. Instantly, the glass face of the walker blossomed with a plume of fire and energy that accelerated its backwards topple to the pavement.

With just six feet to go, I dove. The Tarmac ground one of my palms raw with the landing and if it wasn't for the new armor Kip gave me, my knees probably would have been busted open as well.

"I'm so sorry, baby," I crooned to the Consolation through gritted teeth as the ship's port side absorbed a punishing barrage of lead. When the deluge suddenly dropped by half, I leaned out as far as I dared, flinching from the rounds that still sparked off the nose of the ship. The sheet of gunfire that kept me pinned down was a light drizzle compared to the ballistic cloud that Bane fought through.

My mouth hung open in disbelief as the hunter-killer charged forward with both arms and scythes joined in front of its face in an effort to block out the projectiles. The stream of ricocheting lead and flying particles of carapace formed a blurry haze about my friend. In a span of seconds that seemed like an hour, he reached the edge of the right flank, forcing the small army to break formation in order to maintain a clear shot.

Even from this distance, I could see that Bane was already bleeding in several places as he plunged into the forward squad of marines, raising both blades at the last possible moment. Two armored soldiers were instantly cut down beneath the Hunter-Killer's steel-rending sickles and the momentum carried behind them. Before the stunned remainder of the squad could comprehend even the sudden dismemberment of their comrades, Bane reared to the left with a brutal back-swing that caught the nearest one of them square on the helmet.

The Terran's visor shattered in a brilliant spray of Neo-Glass shards as he cart wheeled to the pavement. Three marines were now down for the count in the blink of an eye, but the other twenty from the platoon and their trio of supporting Goliaths were reacting quickly as well.

The torturous storm of lead had already begun to return against the lone carapaced phenomenon. Impaler rounds were bad enough, but Bane simply couldn't afford another charge through the devastating torrent of chain-gun fire from the combat walkers.

Blood stained his personal mist of rebounding bullets and pulverized carapace a light, grizzly crimson as Bane speared two of the lifeless soldiers and hefted the combined bulk of their powered suits off the tarmac. Without regard for the final rites of their former bothers-in-arms, the defenders of the Klorian ship yards fired on, mangling the bodies with slugs in attempt to bring down the beast that held them. Hunching low behind his human shields, my alien friend shot me a fleeting glance that bordered on the edges of desperation. One of his eyes poured blood, which could be seen running through the mesh of teeth and joining again to fall from his jaws like water from a broken faucet.

Bane had never asked me for help before, but that two-second stare said it all. He couldn't do this alone.

With only a scant pair of grunts still issuing suppressive fire in my direction, I hefted the C-8 to my shoulder, taking concise aim for the shifting garrison of marines that rushed into a new formation around the hydralisk. The muzzle belched flame as I jerked the trigger in rapid succession, sending three rounds arching over the tarmac set to impact detonation. Two of the shells landed among the tightly packed soldiers and sent a number of them reeling with the explosions, but the third missed its target, only managing to knock a goliath off its stride with the force of the blast.

My blind-side assault may only have cut the garrison's numbers by another four at best, but it definitely got their attention. Nearly a dozen marines and one of the walkers practically turned on the spot, leaving the other half of the troops to the hydralisk while they unleashed their weapons against me and the poor Consolation with swift vengeance.

The ship's curved windshield, only replaced two days ago, was instantly obliterated, followed quickly by the forward view ports. I backpedaled wildly through the brief gale of glass tendrils and huddled midship, where I knew the bulkhead between the cargo and pilot compartments would offer the most protection. My mind spiraled in awe that Bane could withstand the uranium slugs that punched clean circular holes through the hull all around me.

I knew without looking that my half of the troops were closing on the Consolation, intent on surrounding me on the other side with a deadly crossfire. However, the high-pitched chirp of a powerful rifle under the influence of silencer and flame suppressor began ringing out among the concussive rattle of gauss fire and chain guns.

As the troops came in view of the still-open cargo door of the Consolation, Caryn began picking them off with her newly acquired C-7 custom. The stone-cold former mercenary had a lethal combination of drop-dead aim and ruthless efficiency that would be the envy of the most accomplished marksmen in the Terran special ops. She fired two shots in quick succession, landing each round in the precise center of two marines' face-plates as they lead the charge around the aft end of the ship.

Their skulls were reduced to a gory paste inside their helmets when the armor-piercing rounds hit home, but practically before they could drop lifelessly to the pavement one after the other, Caryn turned inside the Consolation and fired three times again through the shattered windshield.

Two more soldiers crumpled to the ground in mid-stride and the armored goliath visibly mis-stepped from a sudden puncture in the lower center of the glass cockpit. Its twin auto cannons wound up and thundered madly in my direction, nearly on a line that would have canceled my cover, but its torso swung to the right and up at an odd angle just before pilot error caused it to miss the next step entirely. The delicate balance of the bird-like machine was lost and it crashed to the tarmac with a groan of the complaining hydraulics and a clamor of metal plating. The walker churned on the ground like a dying animal, but only because the pilot's body lay slumped against the controls inside.

Faced with this new threat, the remaining soldiers wheeled in retreat and continued to pelt more holes in my pitiful dropship. I made a mental note to be a little slower to push Caryn's buttons before one final idea struck me.

I jerked my gauss pistols free of their holsters and dropped on the cement. Although she had begun to list to port from a shot-out hydraulic line somewhere, the Consolation sat high enough on its landing skids for me see the turning metal boots of the back-pedaling marines. Pressed flat on the ground, I took aim through the gap under the ship. The dual weapons reacted a split second after one another when I jammed the triggers, determined to unload both clips downrange. The concentrated barrage of light automatic rounds took only a moment to find a chink among the pounding armored boots.

A muffled wail rang out as a pair of the soldiers tripped to the pavement, their feet unexpectedly turned to mangled stubs inside their suits by my low-flying impaler rounds. I grimaced when the hapless soldiers fell into the stream, where I proceeded to finish them off.

The instant my clips ran dry, I sprang to my feet once more. Seeming almost out of place, the sound of bullets peppering the Consolation abruptly came to a halt. When I tried to pull open the riddled copilot door, it fell off it's hinges and flopped pathetically to the pavement. I ignored the spectacle and jumped inside the battle-stricken craft, nearly getting my head blown off in the process.

Caryn whirled around the moment my face appeared inside. She was favoring one leg, where a stray round had lodged in the meaty part of her thigh. She had a number of other grazes, evidence of several near-misses with the uranium rounds from the Goliath, but I didn't even bother to throw her a glance as I hurled myself into the pilots chair and began flipping switches.

"C'mon, baby, we only need _five minutes_..." I crooned to the gasping ion thrusters. I didn't have to cast an eye towards the myriad of hysterical gauges and flashing red lights among the controls to know that my bird was mortally wounded.

"What about the damned battle-cruiser?" Caryn swore as she feverishly slid fresh cartridges into the breach loader of the C-7.

"Can you fly?" I demanded without so much as heeding a thought about her question.

"Yeah," Caryn barked back while she jerked the bolt on her combat rifle with a grimace, "But I have my doubts about this thing!"

"Get her airborne!"

I frantically replaced the clips in my gauss pistols and rushed through the cargo hold. Caryn grabbed me by the shoulder as I charged out of the rear door, but I knocked the offending hand away in passing.

"_What are you doing?_" She snapped, "Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Not without Bane!"

Despite its grievous wounds, the Hunter-Killer had fought on while we we're pinned with the Consolation. When our return fire drew half the garrison off, Bane was able to go on the offensive once more. His human shields quickly evaporating beneath the ballistic maelstrom, Bane surged against the combined firepower of the two goliaths and five huddled marines that stayed to fight him. Having learned from the deaths of their fallen piers, the soldiers scattered in plenty of time to keep their distance from the charging monstrosity, but the cumbersome combat walkers were slower to react.

Carrying his own momentum plus the added weight of the bullet-minced marines with them, Bane heaved both blades against one of the eight-ton war machines. A spectacular spray of metal plating and neo-glass marked the moment of impact when the bodies collided together like a ship-wreck. The heavy Goliath reeled from the ferocious blow as the hydralisk's scythes cleaved through the mass of alloy and composites to emerge free on the opposite side. In the split-second the walker teetered on one foot, Bane brought his blades back and down again, tripping the precariously balanced machine over backwards to the pavement.

Despite the impaler rounds that began pelting his armored backside, Bane brought both sickles up and plunged them into the Goliath's cockpit, sealing the fate of the Terran inside. Yet, before he could pull them loose again, retaliation fell on him in the form of the churning metal legs of the final walker.

Driven into a rage by the loss of his comrades before his eyes, the pilot stormed the freakish monster with his machine. The combat walker was nearly six feet taller than the battle-ravaged Hunter-Killer and five times as heavy. Its blind-side tackle hit Bane like a runaway truck, sending him sprawling to the tarmac beneath the thing's crushing weight.

Miraculously, Bane landed on his back and instinctively threw both arms up just before an immense cleated foot could grind him into the pavement. With an ear-splitting screech of metal, both blades pierced the great steel hove as the Goliath pilot bore down on Bane with the full weight of his war-walker. Snarling with exertion and trembling with the effort, the Hunter-Killer fought the enormous mass of the machine. Ever so slowly, death's descent groaned to a halt with a shudder of laboring hydraulics and began to reverse, but the trap was already set.

Servos whining, the Goliath's auto cannons pivoted down on their mechanical joints and wound up to firing speed. Bane's strength was fading; worn down by two days of combat and drained away through wounds too numerous to count. The merciless barrage of high-velocity spikes could have been the final sling of arrows that killed the beast, save only for a single, well-placed C-8 charge.

The timely blast caught the Goliath high on the backside, shattering the glass cockpit and the walker's fragile balance as it tried to crush my friend. A half-second after the first impact, a second followed in its path and the ensuing explosion sent the machine toppling over Bane to crash headlong into the cement. The remaining squad of soldiers were taken back by my unexpected assault and spun to face me as I raced onto the scene with both barrels blazing.

Gauss rounds from my automatic pistol pelted the left-most marine full of holes before he could turn around and the C-8 bucked again as I simultaneously loosed its final round. The center marine caught the explosive canister in the chest and was instantly engulfed in a plume of fire that scattered the stunned soldiers with the shock wave. Only one marine was left standing and we fired our weapons at the exact same moment.

Two shots from my gauss pistol reduced the soldier's skull to a bloody soup, but to my bewilderment, his body didn't make a sound as it flopped lifelessly to the tarmac. With mild curiosity, I slowly discovered that sound ceased to exist at all as I watched my friend doggedly push into a standing position. Only when I began to feel a warm liquid running down my chest did I realize that I had been hit.

I felt no pain as I looked down and was shocked at what I saw. There were three neat, round holes in the upper left side of my tactical vest, a hand's width below my shoulder. Blood was already soaking through the fabric and I could taste it in my mouth. Suddenly, I felt very afraid.

I vaguely remember Bane's telepathic voice crying out as my strength vanished like a wisp of smoke on the breeze. Jagged black tendrils loomed from the edges of my vision while my failing mind registered that I was now lying on the ground. Soaked in blood, my outstretched hand groped in the air at the image of my alien friend standing over me. I tried to speak, but my throat only produced a nauseating gurgling noise.

"Reece?" my friend roared, fear and concern evident in the words, "_Reece!_"

Then with startling speed, the world went dark and numb.

Sunlight shone through my closed eyelids, staining my vision pink. I opened them slowly, as if waking from a deep slumber, and found the open dome of a clear blue sky. No sun was visible in the flawless atmosphere above, even though my surroundings were bathed in the intense light of mid-day. Detached thoughts of Bane and Caryn crossed my mind, but they seemed like a distant memory from somewhere far away, in a different time. Finally, I put my hands to the ground and sat up, startled to find a healthy bed of long grasses between my fingers.

With a gasp, I remembered being shot and frantically groped for the wounds, but found only my old slave tunic from childhood on my chest. When I held my hands up in confusion, I suddenly noticed that they were not my own, at least not anymore. These hands were small and soft, like those of a little kid. With slow realization, I found that the rest of this strange body matched the hands, right down to the grubby bare feet that stuck out in front of me.

I was left utterly dumbfounded. Where was I? How did I get here?

The plush grass I sat on was everywhere, covering rolling hills as far as the eye could see. As I gazed around, a flock of birds flapped overhead, chirping in time with each other while they drifted lazily by.

"Is this some kind of dream?" I pondered out loud with a voice that was a pitch or two higher than the one I had grown accustom to. Although it was the best explanation, it couldn't be right. I never had dreams like _this_; it was all too peaceful, too serene.

Suddenly, I could feel a presence there with me. Foot steps approached from behind and I turned to see a man and woman walking towards me. The man was tall and lean, with a mop of scrubby black hair and a clean-shaven face. His green eyes looked intense and strong, but a soft glint hinted at a gentle kindness beneath. The woman was a brunette with hair grown far beyond her shoulders, wreathing a face that returned my stare with a gaze that bordered on love.

They held hands as they approached, seemingly out of nowhere, until they reached me. With agonizing slowness, their clasped hands slid apart as if they might never meet again. Then, they finally sat down on either side of me.

"Who are you people?" I stammered in my childish tone, "Where are my friends? Where's Bane?"

The couple didn't answer me, and instead, gazed for a long while out over the open plain. At last, when I least expected it, one of them spoke,

"I'm truly sorry, my son."

I looked up at the male figure with a start. The voice seemed so deep and booming that it might as well have come from God himself.

"We're both very sorry, but you cannot stay with us any longer. They...they will come to take you from us soon and there's nothing we can do except be brave and have hope. You must be brave as well, son. _Promise me you will be brave_."

Although I had no idea who this person was or what he was talking about, I felt strangely obligated to answer.

"I...I'll try," I stuttered, surprised at how difficult it was to say.

Then the woman spoke, and I was shocked to find that she had tears rolling down her soft cheeks,

"We love you, son, we both do. We always have and always will, no matter how far they take you. Always remember, my dear Reece; _promise me you will remember_."

"I promise..." I nodded obediently, nearly moved to tears myself by this woman's powerful outpour of emotion.

Another moment passed in near silence, save for the distant melody of a bird-song and the whisper of the breeze through the grass. All too soon, the man spoke again,

"It's time."

The swish of another set of feet approached from behind. I looked up as they moved to the front of me, just off to the side, and my mouth fell open in disbelief.

It was him.

Every detail was there: the face obscured in electronic targeting equipment, the dated tactical armor, even the ever-present C-10 canister rifle. I was flabbergasted beyond any capacity for words, but the man's huge voice came once more, addressing the newcomer this time,

"You take care of our boy, you hear?"

This mysterious figure, who had once led me to Bane through the labyrinth tunnels of a Protoss carrier and who kicked me out of bed two nights ago, simply gave a single nod before looking down to me with a gloved, outstretched hand.

As if of its own accord, my own little hand obediently reached out and took it. Everything in me screamed to stay, to learn some kind of answer to this madness, but my feet moved like they were drawn by unseen strings.

I strained to look back at the couple as I was led away, but they only held each other in their arms and watched me go. Despite my efforts, a dense white fog crept from the edges of my vision and swallowed their image. Soon, I could see nothing except a sterile, white light, but their voices echoed through the ether one last time,

"Remember, my son."

"Be brave."

Everything faded into silent, shadowy darkness; even the feel of the gloved hand around my own vanished with the touch of the grass beneath my feet. I was left with nothing until a vaguely familiar noise pulsed into being. An artificial sounding chirp, barely on the edge of audibility, bleeped out of the nothingness and gradually grew in volume. With terrible slowness, I recognized this monotonous beeping sound as an EKG monitor.

Then in five seconds flat, it all came rushing, roaring and rampaging back. My lungs were _on fire_ and it felt like someone was crushing my heart in a vice. With the merciless onset of consciousness, something high in the center of my back exploded, joining the chorus of pain that twisted my ill-prepared mind. A pitiful moan of agony forced it's way up my throat, but my voice produced only an abrasive scratching noise.

I could feel a sudden, heavy movement nearby, but my vision was a disorientating blur of gray and brown. Despite the crippling pain, I attempted to sit up, but only to be gently pressed flat again by a solid, steady force. The motion caused my wounds to scream in protest, and I could do nothing but suck my teeth and bear it.

At last, the neural firestorm died to a smoldering turmoil and I was able to unclench my fists. As I caught my breath and regained a shard of composure, my eyes began to make sense of the milky image in front of me. I could make out the flat, feature-less walls of a recovery ward and several IV's protruding from my left wrist. A thin sheet covered my legs and half my body, and my chest was mummified beneath a tight-wrapped layer of bandaging. There was a tall, plain table next to my bed with several bottles of fluid and the compact EKG unit. Then, I found the softly glowing crimson eyes of a monstrous alien.

"It is good to see you, my friend..."

Bane's telepathic voice graced my thoughts and almost made me forget the pain. I tried desperately to speak, but the words turned to a retching cough before I could form the second syllable. Genuine concern edged Bane's voice as he answered my question before I could ask it.

"Lie still, mortal; you were gravely injured. Though you owe your life to these machines, they could not repair all the damage."

"...How long have I-" I began to say, my voice a scrabbling gasp, but my friend swiftly interrupted me.

"Eight days, by the count of the others."

A painstaking smile briefly crossed my lips.

"So we made it?"

"Indeed we did," Bane answered with a low growl, "You, by some slight of the Gods, with your life."

The hydralisk shut its eyes tight and released a great sigh that swirled the air in the room. When they opened again, they looked deathly serious, yet hurt at the same time.

"There is little that I truly fear in the universe, Reece...However, you frightened me. Until today, I could sense no trace of the life I once knew within your ruined form. For a time, I nearly believed that we would never speak again."

"I'm sorry," I croaked, "But, Bane, I had to do it."

Without warning, the hydralisk snarled in response,

"I do not wish for an apology! What I want is you to know this: under _no circumstance _are you to help me at the risk of your own life! You _can not _value my existence above that of your own! _Do you understand_?"

I was taken back by my friend's sudden outburst, but I didn't have the will to fight over it. I just grinned sheepishly and spent the last of my strength mumbling a simple reply before merciful unconsciousness claimed my ravaged mind once again,

"I do, Bane, but I'm sorry. I can't do that."

It would be two days before I could bear standing upright again. After I passed out, Bane promptly informed everyone on board that, in spite of the popular consensus, I wasn't dead. Naturally, everyone was there to greet and harass me the next time I came around. After the initial round of cheers, the whole crew, and Caryn, took turns breathing down my neck for almost getting myself killed.

I didn't care. I was so doped up on pain killers that they could have hidden steak in my bed and locked me in the room with a starved zergling; I wouldn't have been any less content.

Two of the bullets, Mich later explained, passed clean through my left lung and out my back, cracking three ribs in the process. The other one came within a half inch of my pulmonary artery and all but shattered my shoulder blade. The advanced biological regeneration technology on board the Mark III was able to repair most of the tissue damage, but broken bones and trauma would have to heal on their own.

Nobody thought I would make it. One lung had partially filled with blood and I stopped breathing for three minutes before the artificial life-support systems could be brought online. As Bane said before, but in different words, monitors had shown minimal brain activity for seven days. By most medical definitions, I was dead. In the end, only Bane had stopped the others from pulling the plug that kept my lifeless body breathing.

Boss gave me the whole spiel about the importance of planning and adhering to safety protocols while TJ just swore about how much of a lucky son-of-a-bitch I was. Mosely was mostly quiet, as usual, but the mixed look of relief and exhaustion on his face said volumes. Caryn made doubly sure that I knew what a lousy mercenary I made and fully understood how big of a jack-ass I was for 'leaving her' to explain herself to the rest of the crew. Then, she promptly turned from me and stormed out of the recovery ward without so much as another word.

Bane was strangely absent from the proceedings. When I asked about it, TJ explained that the hydralisk was busy raiding the food-stocks in the galley. With the exception of the to-go bag Maggie prepared for him, my friend had refused to eat for a week.

Once the excitement wore down, I was finally able to get a word in edgewise and figure out just what I missed while I was gone.

"So what happened? Where are we now?"

"You n' Biggie made a genuine mess of things back there," Mich began with a sigh, "Let me be the first to congratulate you, kid. Now you've got a price on your head with the Ellison rebel faction _and_ the Hiemdall defense core. Wraith fighters gave up pursuit once we pushed past orbit and entered warp space, but we can forget about goin' back home anytime soon. We've taken damage to the hull, but she's still holdin' a steady course on the fringe of the Koprulu sector."

"The Fringe?" I coughed in surprise, "I thought we were going to Shakuras. What are we doing out here?"

"Biggie hasn't been very clear about that," Mich grumbled, as if annoyed by the fact that he was at the command of an alien, "But he knows how to be _persuasive_. We're about three days from landing on some frozen rock named Braxis and I haven't a damn clue why."

"None of us do," TJ piped in, "Big's has plum clammed up since you've been out."

"Hell," Boss snorted, "He was gettin' downright mean before you came around. It got to a point that we were afraid to come in here to check on the machines and replace fluids. Are you sure the bug's still playin' with a full deck of cards?"

The news of Bane's foul behavior did come as a surprise to me, but I didn't think too much of it given the circumstances.

"Sure," I nodded, "He seemed pretty normal to me, or at least, as normal as he _can_ be."

"Look into it for me when you get back in your boots," Mich shrugged, "The _last_ thing we need right now is an uncontrollable alien on our hands."

"Speaking of uncontrollable," TJ suddenly smirked, "Where'd you dig up the hot little number that saved your shot-up carcass?"

After standing silent witness the entire time, Mosely relented with a brief chuckle. I rolled my eyes and intercepted Boss before he could cue-in on the subject,

"I'm sorry, fella's, I really am. I know she can be a royal pain in the neck, but she had me over a barrel! It was either this or let her tell the Ellisons everything. Honestly, I was going to tell you once we made it onboard the mark three."

As if to fly in the face of my assumption, Mich suddenly cracked up. He and TJ shared a laugh at my expense before Boss regained his composure with a long sigh,

"Kid, you must have me mistaken for somebody else. After running from gun-smugglin' rebels and warrant totin' defense corps, then having my crew and ship all but hijacked by an insane, risk-blind teenager and his savage pet alien, why in the name of good green Earth would I try to condemn the one thing that is quite possibly the only plus in this whole cluster-fuck?"

"You dirty, old space-dog," I scoffed, feigning disgust.

Boss continued to rattle on as if I hadn't said anything,

"Given she _is_ a member of a dangerous rival faction, a known squealer and meaner than a cornered zerglin' to boot, she's the one thing I can look at around here and not feel disgusted. Normally, I wouldn't allow an armed stranger on board, but I suppose I can overlook _this_ infraction if you two can keep a lid on it."

"What?" I stuttered, "S-she isn't...we're not...b-but we never-"

TJ grinned from ear to ear and slapped my bed rail,

"Aw, c'mon, Reece-myster! Don't you know you're a miserable liar? Hell, I'm happy for you! Me and the boys were beginning to worry!"

"So I've heard," I grumbled, unsuccessfully attempting to wipe the blush off my face with one palm.

"Well, we haven't," TJ pushed back, "And don't spare us the details, kiddo! How was it?"

"_That's it_!" I growled, to the best of my ability, "Out! All three of you perverts get out or I'll sick my savage alien on you!"

"Alright, alright," Mich chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender as he and the guys got up to leave, "Lay off the kid, TJ. It must be a memory he prefers to suppress."

"_Leave_," I commanded, trying to sound cold even though I knew the guys were just toying with me.

TJ and Mosely filed through the open doorway, but Mich delayed his exodus by speaking over one shoulder before the pneumatic door slid shut behind him,

"Nice to have you back, kid."

I sighed as the door to the medical ward slid shut with a whisper of the pneumatics. I had never lain in a bed so long before in my life and I could feel my body cramping up all over. I also began to worry over what Mich said about Bane, but, with effort, I managed to push that thought to the back burner. Bane was irritable because he thought I might have bought the farm, I told myself. Everything was alright now; the situation could wait until I checked on the well-being of another friend.

"_Oh baby_...I'm _so_ sorry..."

The words left my mouth involuntarily after I flicked on the lights to the small craft hangar and laid eyes on the poor Consolation. There wasn't an intact pane of glass anywhere on the ship and it had so many holes that you could almost make out the shape of Mich's craft parked on the other side. Even more miraculous than my recovery, was the fact that this thing made it onto the Mark III at all.

I slowly approached the battle-ravaged drop ship with my left arm cradled in a sling. I still couldn't use it because of my broken shoulder blade, but I didn't care. One good arm or none at all; I was going to help my old girl.

First things first. I had to get onboard and fire up the diagnostic's, if they still worked, and see what was still good. However, I stopped short at the top of the rear cargo ramp when I saw the blood; my blood. I shook my head in silent amazement as I stared down at the four-foot stain on the grated steel deck. Right there, I knew all over again that I shouldn't have lived.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I moved to one wall and stepped around the spot. Finally, I was able to look away and enter the pilot's compartment. I plunked down in a seat that was pocked and peeled from the bullets; wisps of synthetic cotton curled out from the cushion and reached up like the appendages of a sea urchin.

When I flicked the switch to feed power to the controls, a fountain of sparks erupted from somewhere between the panels and only half the dash lit up. Red warning lights flashed like a city skyline and the cracked diagnostic screen scrolled with an endless list of distress codes. The primary drive was down, life support was non-existent, and hydraulic controls showed a complete loss of operating pressure, among a laundry-list of electrical trouble codes. This was going to take a lot of time, effort and a small miracle.

I shut down the power with a sigh and was about to stand up when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked up, Caryn was watching me from the edge of the Consolation's ramp.

"I had a feeling you would be out here with your precious ship," she droned as she stepped up the ramp with a slight limp. When I saw this, it suddenly dawned on me that I had forgotten all about her taking lead, too.

"How's your leg?" I asked, genuinely trying to sound concerned.

"And my shoulder?" She suddenly shot back as she came to a stop in the cargo hold and crossed her arms.

"You were hit twice?" I gasped in actual surprise.

Caryn pretended to inspect the holes in the hull around her before she turned her icy gaze against me,

"Like _you_ would notice! You're too worried about this damn thing and your..._your_ _pet zerg_!"

I still didn't have the energy for a full scale argument, much less with _her_. I gave in, looked away from her piercing blue eyes, and exhaled.

"Thanks for your help back there. You didn't have to do that."

"I didn't do it for _you_ or your pet!" Caryn snapped again, "If I didn't start shooting back, they would have bagged me along with the rest of you clowns! I only helped to save my own skin."

Agitation bubbled up between the cracks of exhaustion, giving me the energy for one sharp retort,

"_Bane is not my pet_," I said firmly, but quietly, "Bane is _my friend_; something you would know little about. Did you really come down here solely to kick dirt in my face? We've outrun the Ellison's by a week and a half. You will be safe on any of the Terran settlements in this sector. So, honestly, if you really despise my company so much, _please_...just take what you want, get on a ship and go."

What I said wasn't in anger or to even a score, it was simply the tired truth, stripped raw from Caryn's constant acidic scorn. I just didn't have the will or patience to put up with her if she was going to treat me like scum, and I could see in her eyes that she actually understood this.

Caryn was silent for a full minute, a stunning victory on my part, while I ignored her and began clumsily removing fasteners in the center dash panel with my good arm. I could tell that something I said finally struck a cord with her, but I had no idea what it could have been. Finally, she spoke up again, in a softer tone of voice this time,

"Why do you care about this ship so much?"

I stopped in mid-turn of the fourth screw as the memories crossed my mind. The guys knew exactly why I kept the Consolation, even when faster, more advanced vessels presented themselves. I never had to explain it to anyone. Until now.

"Eight years ago, when I was just a little kid, Bane promised me a ship when he went on a boarding party with Boss and the crew. It was only supposed to be an incentive to keep me quiet, because I couldn't go with them, but...something happened and Bane had to leave us. This ship was all I got in exchange for the only friend I'd ever had, like a cheap consolation prize of sorts."

Caryn was still quiet, listening to my history lesson while staring at the floor under her boots,

"But ever since then, it's been almost as trusty as the friend it replaced. The Consolation's pulled me out of some really hairy situations; never once has it let me down. I won't leave her like this."

When I looked up again, Caryn was grinning,

"You know, for a guy, you're pretty sentimental."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I grumbled and finished removing the fourth screw, allowing the panel to break loose and expose the wiring beneath.

"Hey," she suddenly frowned, "I thought you didn't want to fight."

I glanced up at Caryn just long enough to roll my eyes,

"I don't," I said flatly as I pulled the panel off with a jerk. Out of the blue, her smile returned with a wry twist on the edges of her lips,

"Then what else is there to do?"

Once again, I stopped working on the shot-out controls and looked up,

"What's that supposed to mean?"

There were always the brief ones; fleeting acquaintances that TJ would set me up with when I wasn't looking or otherwise. Of the girls that came and went, there was never anything special about them; simply a means to satisfy those overpowering teenage urges. But Caryn was different.

She could kiss like she was born to do it, and it made all the painkillers seem like children's vitamins in comparison. I totally lost track of everything, even time. For a brief moment, nothing seemed more important than her sweet lips.

At some point, I don't know when, Caryn put her hands on my chest and pushed herself away. Reluctantly, I released her and she slid as smooth as silk into the co-pilot's chair next to me.

"So why are we out here, _really_?" She asked expectantly as I sat up and attempted to straighten out my hair with my good hand.

"W-well, Bane has more details," I began with a stutter as my brain came back on track, "But the Zerg are taking over Shakuras, and if we don't do something, they will assimilate the Protoss for their psionic abilities. If that happens, nothing can stop them."

"Wait," Caryn's frown was back and her eyes turned cold again, "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Of course," I piped, trying to sound casual, "I wasn't joking when I said we were leaving to save the galaxy."

"_Reece!_" She unexpectedly exclaimed, "This is _the_ _Zerg_ you're talking about! You're only going to get yourself killed! What makes you even _think _that you can make a difference?"

"I don't know," I answered after a long moment of silence, "But Bane says I'm the only one who can."

A stark look of disgust and disbelieve twisted Caryn's soft face until I cringed involuntarily,

"And you actually believe that...that _thing_?"

Her unwavering insults of a trusted friend, who had saved my life countless times, was beginning to make my blood boil over. However, I bit back hard on the anger and matched her icy glower with one of my own.

"_Yes_," I said with a tone of finality, "I do."

Caryn's mouth dropped slightly as she looked me over in what had to be either pity or anger. After a moment that seemed to drag on forever, she stood up. With an exaggerated sigh, Caryn walked briskly out of the ship, down the ramp and out of sight.

For a time, I watched the place where Caryn disappeared and simply pondered about where I went wrong. I became lost in thought until Bane emerged around the edge of the Consolation's open cargo door.

"Bane!" I visibly flinched when Caryn's image was replaced by that of a drooling, ten-foot alien, "Did you find something good to eat, buddy?"

The hydralisk snapped its jaws and shrugged,

"The available selection is acceptable, however limited."

A chaotic thought briefly crossed my mind as I wondered what Bane would have done if he'd shown up five minutes earlier,

"What brings you out here?"

"I sensed an unfamiliar mental pattern emanating from your mind," the hydralisk growled, adding emphasis to its telepathic words, "Does something trouble you, mortal? Are you not healing well?"

"No, n-no," I stammered, "I'll be fine in a few days..."

I trailed off for a moment, wracking my mind for some kind of excuse,

"It's my ship!" I spoke up as an idea hit me, "This is the same one you promised me that day eight years ago. I can't stand to see it busted up like this."

Bane's glowing, crimson eyes narrowed to a pair of slits as he considered what I said. I could tell that he knew I was hiding something, but thankfully, the moment passed quickly.

"Cannot you repair it?"

"I don't know," I confessed truthfully, "It's a miracle the thing made it on board the Mark three at all."

Bane glanced at the peppered hull before he looked back to me,

"Perhaps I could be of assistance."

"What?" I scoffed, frankly surprised, "How could _you_ help?"

"That's good, Bane. Just a little higher, if you don't mind."

With its scythes hooked under the hull like a biological fork-lift, the powerful hydralisk growled with effort, tipping the Consolation to the brink of flipping over. With the extra clearance, I was able to slide in on my side and begin removing the plating around the forward keel repulsor.

"Tell me again," Bane asked as I worked the first rivet loose, "What is the purpose of _this_ gadgetry?"

"They're called Keel Repulsor's," I repeated, "They provide extra lift for vertical take-off in a gravitational environment and they're essential for maneuvering in space."

I paused while I jerked a final rivet free and let the panel clatter to the floor next to my head,

"And right now, one of them isn't responding to the diagnostic scan."

"Ah," Bane rumbled sarcastically, "Such wisdom has _truly_ enlightened me."

The moment I pulled the wiring out for inspection, I found the problem. A stray shot had gone through the floor at a shallow angle, and consequently through the control harnesses, before lodging itself in the titanium casing of the thruster housing.

I sighed heavily and reached for the wire strippers when I noticed a pair of boots approach and stop next to Bane's armored tail.

"Caryn said you were out here, in so many words," Mich's voice came after a short pause.

Carefully, as not to jar my bad shoulder, I slid back out from under the Consolation and Bane lowered it gently to it's landing skids again.

"Was she upset?" I asked as I sat up and wiped my palm on my jeans.

Mich waved the question off.

"Isn't she always? You and Big's should find a stopping point and head on up to the bridge. We'll be in orbit over Braxis soon, but we're not going any further until I get some damned answers."

"This place you call 'Braxis' is the last known location of the dark templar San'Dreale. If we are to save the first-born and stop my brethren, we will require his assistance."

Everyone was on the bridge for Bane's explanation, surprisingly even Caryn, but it only raised more questions.

"We haven't seen that blue bastard since the last time you left," Boss snorted in surprise, who sat back and listened to Bane's words with his arms crossed.

"Yeah," TJ added, "He just disappeared one night. How did you find em' way out here?"

The hydralisk failed to address questions until one showed up with a purpose.

"What good is another damn alien against the Zerg, anyway?" Caryn asked as if she didn't care while she pretended to inspect her nails.

"Protoss society is much like your own," Bane said with the added emphasis of a verbal growl, "Complex and unforgiving. In order to gain their trust, we shall need one who knows their ways."

"Hey Mose," Mich spoke over one shoulder to the silent mercenary, "Punch up a quick scan on the immediate surface. I'd like to know what's on this rock."

Mosely simply nodded and turned for the sensory console, leaving the rest of us to stare at the empty center of the rounded briefing table. In moments, the nearest quadrant of the planet materialized before us like a holographic orange slice. Most of the field was devoid of activity, with the exception of a tiny blotch of green.

"Looks pretty quiet out there," Boss said as he sat up and studied the hologram with the rest of us, "We might have a backwater mining operation here, but you shouldn't have any trouble staying out of their way."

"So," T.J. spoke up as Mosely returned to the table, "Who's going down there?"

"Why even ask," I shrugged as I stood up from the table, "Bane and I are going."

If I had expected Boss to object, I would have been strangely mistaken.

"If this were any other day," Mich said with a tired voice, "You would lose your job the moment you stepped of this ship. But as of last week, we're all out of work. Just do yourself a favor and take my suit; the heater works better."

"Do you have one in a medium size?" Caryn suddenly spoke up as if she just noticed that she was sitting in a debriefing.

"H-hold the phone!" I stuttered, "You're gonna stay right here, princess!"

"Mines a medium," TJ volunteered like I hadn't said anything.

Caryn nodded in TJ's direction as she stood up from the hologram table,

"Then I'm going to need it. Even on a deserted, frozen rock like this, _somebody_ has to keep this kid from killing himself."

"Ain't it the truth," Mich grinned, "Let's get this goose-chase over with."

"Now wait just a minute," I barked in attempt to put my foot down while everyone left me by the hologram, "Caryn stays here, and there's nothing you rejects can say or do that will change my mind!"

Compared to the lush, tropical environment I had grown accustomed to on Hiemdall, just the view of the ice-locked world beyond the windshield sent chills crawling through my body. Snow fell so thick outside that Caryn had to fly by sensors and sonar; a task I didn't entirely trust her with but had little choice over due to the still-slugglish reaction time of my left arm.

"Slow it down, princess," I hissed as frozen tree-tops suddenly loomed out of the storm with startling clarity.

"What did I tell you about calling me that?" Caryn practically growled, obviously struggling with the ships controls. According to the altimeter, we were just over fifty feet from touchdown when Caryn fed too much power to the port repulsors and not enough to starboard. The Interceptor three heaved up beneath us and the jagged treetops titled in the windshield. If she wasn't strapped in, Caryn would have fallen across the cockpit and landed on me with TJ's powered suit. At the same moment, I heard the grating sound of carapace sliding across steel and glanced back in time to see Bane fall helplessly to the right side of the cargo compartment.

To keep from punching holes in the hull and stranding us with a leaky craft, the hydralisk collided face-first with the mid-ship bulkhead. Bane had just enough time to push himself off the wall and glare at me with an agitated snarl before we hit the tree.

Without warning, our poorly guided vessel crashed to dead halt in mid-air when its sideways slide lead to what must have been the most unforgiving tree on the planet. A metallic clang resounded through the ship when Bane collided with the ceiling and a drift of snow showered across the windshield. Then, the overhead compartments jarred open, spilling their contents all over the cargo hold and one dangerously disgruntled hydralisk. At last, I managed to reach across the cockpit and clumsily correct the thruster power with my bad arm.

The flustered dropship groaned around us as it leveled out again, and not a moment too soon. With a final crash of the skids and a stomach-wrenching impact, the Interceptor Three achieved touchdown on Braxis.

"_See_?" Caryn turned her nose up as she cut the power, "I can fly just fine."

Bane snorted loudly as he pushed himself off the deck with both scythes,

"Indeed; And with all the grace of a blind ultralisk."

Caryn gave me a dirty look, but with my protective metal shell, I wasn't about to pass up a hearty laugh at her expense.

"Let's get this over with, you bastards!" She growled just before she lowered the visor on her own borrowed suit.

With the exception of a few inches of fresh powder, the snow-pack was frozen solid to the point that it supported the weight of the combat suits easily. I always hated wearing them; environmental awareness and peripheral vision is cut to nearly nothing and their whining servos and pneumatics were slow to react at best and anything but stealthy. However, I thought as I cranked the personal heater unit, they did have their occasional shining moments.

Caryn and Bane were already waiting on me at the back of the ship, each trying to pretend the other didn't exist, when I trudged up to join them in the driving snow. When I spoke from inside the suit, its external amplifier made my voice sound choppy and artificial,

"Hey Bane, aren't you cold out here?"

The hydralisk glanced down at me for a moment, with a layer of frost already forming over every inch of its carapace, and growled just loud enough for me to hear it through my visor,

"...mortals..."

"Where in frozen hell is this blue freak?" Caryn's impatient voice crackled over the radio in my helmet.

"I'd hate to agree with her," I gestured with the C-8 in my good hand, "But the princess has a point. Why did you have us land way out here? We're still miles from the intended drop zone."

For a moment, there was no response from the hydralisk as it peered into the howling storm. Just before Caryn could muster another outburst, Bane spoke.

"There is a problem. Though I can sense the Templar is nearby, there is another presence among us. The nature of this other being is alarming because it seems to be...everywhere."

Caryn's scoff could be heard without the aid of her radio.

"What's your pet babbling about now?"

"Who is it, Bane?" I asked, ignoring Caryn's comment. "Can you tell?"

The hydralisk took a long, slow pull of the arctic air before answering with a low growl.

"I do not know. Yet, if my instincts are true, you must both await my return here."

Without another word, Bane started forward through the snow. Grunting against the pain of the sudden movement, I reached out and stopped the ten-foot alien with my bad arm.

"Bane, no! I won't let you go alone."

The hydralisk half turned and addressed me with one burning, crimson eye.

"Even without your injury, you could not hope to survive. _Mortal_, you shall remain here of your own accord, or I shall make that decision for you."

With a shrug, I let my hand drop. Bane's piercing gaze remained a moment longer before he turned from us and stalked into the woods. It wasn't long before I lost sight of the hydralisk in the driving snow, but a case of bewilderment was left behind. My alien friend had kept me from danger in a myriad of ways, but never by threatening me. I began to think about what Mich said back in the recovery ward when Caryn's sing-song voice butted in.

"What's the matter, little boy? Your pet zerg misbehaving? Why don't you hit it on the nose with a newspaper?"

"Try it some time," I snorted over the radio.

Her reply came back edged in spite, but it wasn't quite sincere at the same time.

"I'd put an armor-piercing round dead between that damn thing's eyes and-"

"Then you better save a shot for yourself," I interrupted matter-of-factly, "Because when that _armor-piercing_ round shatters on impact, jumping between you two wouldn't do any good even if I wanted to stop him."

"_Relax_," Caryn sighed back at me, "I've actually grown fond of the slime trails he leaves all over the ship. I just hope all this damn trouble is worth something! Seriously, Reece, what other idiots could be out here besides us?"

Bane could sense them more clearly now. They were all around, following and watching at a distance. The presence was not unlike the Zerg; there was but one mental signature shared by many minds, however not as numerous as a swarm. The now ice-ridden hydralisk knew the identity of this threat before leaving the mortals with their insufferable air craft, but he dare not tell them. Reece would not have stayed.

The terrain presented an uphill trek through tall, frozen trees that grew smaller and fewer with distance. With the forest disappearing, the relentless wind intensified until it began to whistle through the frosted, lifeless branches overhead. Two miles into the hike, Bane could still feel the shimmer of many other life-forms nearby. He knew they were following, staying the attack until both he and the Templar were revealed, but this was a risk Bane had no choice over. He was willingly entering the maw of a trap.

Suddenly, the scraggly forest came to an end. Through the blinding snow, the land continued to slope upwards to a rough point where a sheer cliff formed the abrupt end of a small plateau. To human eyes, the hydralisk stood alone as it crested the rise to stare out over the snowy abyss.

"It has been many moons," Bane growled, radiating his telepathic voice, "Yet the time has finally come. Are you prepared, young San'Dreale?"

At first, there was no reply save for the wind. Then, with a passing gale of ice and snow, the Templar's cloak faded. The scantily armored Protoss stood at Bane's right side, also staring out into the storm as it spoke telepathically.

"I have awaited each of those moons as if they were the last, cerebrate. Time has faded neither the memory of your actions, nor my desire for vengeance against our enemies. However, you did not come here alone."

"Indeed," Bane nodded, mimicking the Terran gesture he had seen so often, "Our guests did not make themselves known to me until my arrival here, and it is my instinct that they will not allow us to leave this place willingly."

As if uttered from a ghost of the past, a torturous voice cut across the senses; a voice that seemed to scream, moan and whisper all at once.

"...So...Rakeem's hero is not totally without his wit after all."

"Dramier," Bane rumbled as he and San'Dreale turned to face the squad of zealots that stepped out of the cover of driving snow, encircling the two warriors at the edge of the cliff, "Are you such a coward that you must send your minions to fight us in your stead?"

"Despicable fiend!" San'Dreale added coldly, "What have you done with master Rakeem? Where are my brethren?"

Dramier's maniacal laughter echoed from the puppet-like minds of the zealots. Even their eyes burned with the same, frantic energy of the Dark Archon's insanity as the being spoke through them like a dozen living amplifiers.

"Your _master_ serves me now, as does Zeratul's precious council; as do the very warriors you see before you! You, Cerebrate, pose the only significant threat to my plan. I have scoured the stars in search of you, but if I allowed this...wayward Templar to live, I knew you would reappear one day. Now that you have, you and your unlikely allies shall be swept aside by my hand!"

With that, all ten zealots simultaneously activated their dual psionic blades and assumed a battle stance.

"There is no use in resistance!" Dramier wailed triumphantly from somewhere across the galaxy, "I have already ordered the strike against your vessel in orbit! This icy planet will be your-"

The dark archon's telepathic gloating was abruptly cut short by two flashes of a dying plasma shield. Bane's third volley of spikes imbedded themselves in the face and throat of the hapless warrior, sending a nine-foot alien crumpling over backwards to the snow.

All remaining zealots burst forth without further hesitation while the body of the fallen dissolved in a torrent of blue energies. San'Dreale's warp blade arced to life a moment before the templar's cloak returned and Bane wound back with both blades just as Dramier's minions closed the distance.

A semi-circle of blue energy rippled out when the hunter-killer unleashed its strength in a wide, sweeping motion of each scythe that clashed against plasma shields and psionic weapons with enough force to send four zealots stumbling. The other fighters were just a few seconds too slow in changing course for the only visible target.

Cleaving the air and hissing through the driven snow, San'Dreale's curved warp blade briefly came into focus. A series of intense blurs met the oncoming hail of psionic daggers with practiced timing and blinding speed. Where the energy weapons collided, miniature explosions of sparks ensued, creating a dazzling display of deadly light.

"San'Dreale, hear me! There is little time; we must leave this place _now_!"

Bane's telepathic message came swiftly, unaffected by his physical exertion as he hurled one scythe skyward in a brutal uppercut that caught the first zealot to recover. The former Khala warrior took the blow in the chest and was hurled over backwards in a complete flip as his brethren rushed in from either side. Blood flew in sprays when the zealots slashed at the hunter-killer's exposed flank before Bane could return with both blades.

Accompanied by a mixed snarl of pain and exertion, Bane brought both scythes around in a savage counter-attack that cleaved the first zealot in half at the waist and sent the second cartwheeling off the abyssal plateau. Meanwhile, San'Dreale struggled to deflect the vengeful daggers of the foes on the right, but he was losing ground fast. Just as all five zealots lunged forth in unison, the templar leapt straight up in an alien display of acrobatic prowess.

Their minds intertwined in the heat of battle, templar and hydralisk were made aware of the others intentions instantly. As San'Dreale flipped overhead in a graceful, high-flying backflip, Bane spun to meet the converging enemies on the right. Instead of their previously invisible foe, the zealots were met with the beastly impact of Bane's scythes.

The zealots spilled over backwards, some hurled to the snow with missing extremities that oozed blue fluids, and San'Dreale knifed downward with his warp blade on the left, bringing it down on one of the two unlucky targets remaining there.

A whirlwind of blue energy engulfed the zealot an instant after the dark templar's weapon plunged through plasma shield, armor and flesh is if it weren't there. The second zealot slashed with it's daggers, but San'Dreale expertly ducked the attack and returned with a diagonal upswing that beheaded the foe with a flash of dead shields.

Three zealots now stood opposing the two warriors, but Bane could sense the shimmer of many other minds quickly closing the distance. Dramier's reinforcements would have been upon them in moments, but Bane issued an order before their exodus could be cut off.

"The chance is ours! Go! NOW!"

Although the remaining zealots side-stepped it easily, Bane threw both scythes at them in a scissor-like motion that could have split them all in half. When they jumped back, both templar and hydralisk tore off in the direction Bane had first come with Dramier's stolen soldiers in pursuit. More zealots poured through the trees, slashing with their blades in fleeting attempts to deal damage as the unlikely pair rushed past.

Over the open terrain, San'Dreale was quicker than Bane, but he allowed the hydralisk to take the lead as four zealots converged ahead to halt the escape. Charging downhill at full speed, half a ton of bad news collided with the poised warriors like a runway train.

Despite the hurtful daggers that raked long gashes in his sides, Bane parted the biological road-block with explosive force that scattered zealots and sent them tumbling end over end. At last, the fleeing combatants broke ahead of the overwhelming numbers that threatened to overtake them from every side.

Bane could only hope, as he cleaved the frozen trunk of a tree in passing and sent it toppling over in the path of the pursuing zealots, that Reece was maintaining a vigilant watch for his return.

"See?" I gasped as we paused briefly for a breath of air, "I told you this would work better with the suits off."

Caryn released her grip on my collar just long enough to push her hair out of her face and consider me with a smug grin,

"Shut up and keep up, you fucking idiot!"

In a move that TJ would have been proud of, my fingers found the clasp to Caryn's burgeoning bra through the cloth of her tank-top as she jerked our faces together again by my collar.

"Tsk tsk, hero-boy," Caryn breathed in between long, lustful kisses, "_You shouldn't take without giving something first._"

To my dismay, my fingers lost all coordination as Caryn used her free hand to twist my belt buckle in a painful knot.

"I'm sorry, princess," I cooed, sweat matting my hair to my forehead, "All you had to do was ask."

In an olympic display of miserable timing, the Interceptor's radio crackled to life with a burst of static before Mich's gruff voice defiled the steamy atmosphere inside the ship.

"Reece, come in! Are you there? We've got big problems!"

With Caryn sprawled across my lap, I scooched around in the pilot's chair enough to reach out and grab the mic off it's clip on the dashboard.

"You're telling me," I growled irritably in response as soon as I was able to free my bottom lip from Caryn's clenched teeth, "I've sorta' got my hands full at the moment; what's the problem?"

"As of forty seconds ago, dozens of protoss signatures appeared on the scans and are rapidly closing on your position! Four craft are approaching the Mark three at flight speed with no response by radio; I think we better get the hell out of dodge!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" I grumbled as I sat up and Caryn pushed herself away with an irritated sigh, "There's nothing out here but ice, snow and..."

I trailed off when I buffed a clear spot in the fogged windshield and peered through. Bane appeared in the distance through the driving snow, charging for the ship at full speed. Then, my mouth fell open involuntarily as more zealots than I'd seen together in my life coursed through the trees in pursuit, not ten yards behind.

"We'll have to pick this up later," I exclaimed, nearly dumping Caryn on the floor as I whirled around in the pilot's chair and began flipping switches, "We got company!"

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Caryn barked while she stood up and wiped a spot in the window to look for herself. Half a second later, she did a perfect double take, "What the hell's the matter with you? Get us outta here!"

The Interceptor's miniature reactor hummed to life a moment before the thrusters came online with a muffled blast. No longer hindered by the combat suit, I jerked the controls despite my bad arm and the ship heaved beneath us.

"Open the cargo door!" I ordered quickly as I turned the craft in place. The view of the frozen forest and the swiftly approaching alien spectacle slide sideways in the windshield until it was out of view, but only for a moment.

With a wash of arctic air, the rear cargo door dropped down and the telepathic battle-cry's of the zealots flooded my mind. Bane was only seconds away now, but the protoss were right behind him, frantically slashing with their psi-blades for a chance at the fleeing hydralisk.

"Take the wheel!" I yelled as I jumped out of my seat and rushed through the cargo hold where our powered-suits and weapons lay in a heap. In one motion, I pulled the C-8 out of the pile, brought the stock to my shoulder, and jerked the trigger.

A fiery explosion engulfed one of the perusing aliens and threw it's nearest comrades off-stride, however, their plasma shields reacted instantly to the flame and shrapnel. A wave of blue energy obscured the alien ranks as I fired again and again. My shots did little more than slow a few of them down, but it no longer mattered. I was out of time.

Without warning, something heavy and unseen hit me like a truck, plowing me over backwards to the cargo deck. The wind was knocked out of my lungs and my cracked shoulder blade screamed to painful life as I tried to sit up. At the last possible moment, Bane whirled around with both blades, hurling them into a trio of zealots that would have charged into the ship with us. Amidst a flash of straining plasma shields, they could briefly be seen hurtling backwards to the snow before the hydralisk's telepathic voice boomed across my thoughts with one simple word.

"_GO!_"

Caryn must have been waiting, because she goosed the throttles so hard that Bane was forced to jam his closed scythe-joints into the ceiling to keep from tumbling out of the open cargo hold. The sound of wrenching metal assaulted the ears as the Interceptor leapt forward through the trees with a laborious roar of the thrusters. Then, as suddenly as it began, it was over.

The ice-locked trees and the small army of protoss warriors spiraled away below before disappearing from sight altogether behind the steel of the closing cargo ramp. I pushed to my feet, panting as the hold sealed with a heavy clang.

"What the hell was that all about?" I winched, favoring my bad arm again, "Are you alright, Bane?"

The hydralisk bore a dozen gashes in its arms and sides, many of which still oozed blood that dribbled to the deck in sickening streams. To my surprise, Bane didn't answer the question. Instead, a different telepathic voice intruded my thoughts.

"Fear not for the safety of your friend, young Terran. The resilience of this Cerebrate knows no bounds."

The ship swerved beneath us as Caryn glanced back and saw the dark templar suddenly standing with Bane and I.

"Holy shit!" She swore, turning her attention back to the controls, "Do you blue bastard's make a habit of sneaking up on people?"

San'Dreale ignored Caryn outright and looked me up and down for a half-minute before speaking again.

"...Reece," the templar hesitated, as if having trouble remembering my name, "How much you have changed in so short a time. The child I recall has grown strong. It is by the god's luck that you are still in good health."

"Indeed," Bane growled in agreement as I shrugged them both off and moved to the medical cabinet at the head of the hold. Boss's TRA only displayed a partial charge, but it would be enough to stabilize my friend's wounds until we reached the Mark III.

"What happened out there?" I asked quizzically as I adjusted the bio-detection and moved to where the hydralisk stood, expectantly awaiting the merciful flashing lights of its favorite machine.

Bane released a soft growl of relief as the pain of his wounds faded in time with the open gashes in his carapace, but the hydralisk's eyes burned with an intensity I've rarely witnessed,

"Dramier has returned."

**To Be Continued...**


	20. Bane 20: Hero's Burden

For a moment, the only sound was the high drone of the ship's thrusters. A little slow on her cue, Caryn yelled at us over one shoulder,

"Who the hell is Dramier?"

Nobody seemed to pay her any attention. Finally, I let the TRA drop from my good hand and looked up to the hydralisk,

"What do we do?"

Even San'Dreale seemed to hang until Bane spoke again,

"Dramier now controls most of Zeratul's council; so long as he is in command, the first-born are of little use against the might of the swarm. We must free them from this corruption before all is lost."

I sighed heavily and ran my good hand through my hair. To my surprise, that hand was trembling.

"This just keeps getting better..."

With legs that suddenly felt more like rubber, I turned from the aliens and plunked into the pilot's chair next to Caryn. I stared through the glass a moment before finally reaching for the mic. In the windshield, the deep blue of the atmosphere was already giving way to the fathomless darkness of space.

"Interceptor Four hailing Mark Three," I said mechanically, "Mich, we found San'Dreale, but now we've got bigger problems."

Cayrn and I exchanged a nervous glance when the radio failed to respond with anything but static. I repeated the message, more forcefully this time. Still, there was no reply.

"...Something's wrong," I practically mumbled, unsure of what to say.

"Mich said they were under attack moments ago," she offered, "Could they have lost communications?"

"Either that or the Protoss are blocking the frequency somehow," I replied as I silently hoped for a jammed radio signal and switched on the long-range thermal scanner.

Bane came forward and slouched between Caryn and I to see through the windshield just before the scan began turning out results. The Mark III was twenty clicks out with one nearby Protoss signature, but something was definitely amiss. The combat readouts didn't make sense.

As we drew closer, that lone alien vessel became visible to the naked eye along with the flashing keel lights of the Mark III. It was holding a steady course, but periodic blue explosions peppered her hull seemingly from nowhere. The only visible enemy was simply following the ship as if to keep silent record of the destruction.

"They're taking fire!" Caryn barked as we overtook the slower Protoss vessel, passing it on the left.

"I know! I know!" I shot back, cursing the low-frequency scanners, "We've got nothing on the scan!"

I looked to my left, at the hydralisk that poked its head between us, "Can you see anything, Bane?"

The hydralisk's eyes glowed briefly brighter and its rumbling answer was without delay.

"Four Protoss scouts strafe your ship under the cloak of an arbitor. They concentrate their fire on the battle cruiser for now, but Dramier will surely turn them against us when we draw near."

I worked my bad arm gently, testing the rotation of my shoulder. Still sore, but I didn't have a choice.

"Caryn," I said as I took the copilot controls, "Watch the scanner from your end and let me know the moment were being targeted."

I paused long enough to wrap my fists around the wheel in a white knuckle grip before addressing the hydralisk without looking up,

"Bane, help me see."

The next forty seconds were among the slowest of my life. My senses shimmered briefly before melding with the combined alien awareness of Bane. The fathomless black depth of space was suddenly alight in a soft blue glow, outlining the swerving Protoss vessels against an infinitely overlapping backdrop of distant celestial bodies.

Aided by the Cerebrate's evolved senses and the calm mind through which he saw everything, all detail was obvious. Even moving at speed, I could make out every bend and curve in the metal of the Protoss ships and feel the psionic charge just before they loosed another pair of anti-matter missiles.

I vaguely recall Caryn's voice calling out, as if from a great distance, when two of the fighters peeled away from the attack and turned straight for us.

"_They have us locked!_"

I didn't need the warning. The incoming projectiles seemed as big as dinner plates in my eyes and their path to the nose of our dropship was as obvious as if it were drawn with a line. I mentally screamed at my hands to jerk the wheel at the last moment, but my body didn't seem capable of keeping up with my mind when entwined with Bane's. It must have only been a split second, but the nose of the ship crawled down and left as the missiles oozed by above.

One of them was foiled entirely but the other just clipped the top of the stern and exploded against the hull with enough force to smash Bane against the low ceiling of the cockpit. Our mental connection flickered as we both struggled to maintain concentration. Caryn yelled and I would have been thrown out of my seat if I wasn't strapped in.

Despite a wailing hydraulic alarm, the engines didn't hesitate when I pulled the craft back up, bringing the Mark III in view of the windshield again. Like a ripple on a still pond, a sudden thought from Bane ran across my mind.

_"Your brethren know we are here! There is an opening!"_

Led by the mind's eye, I found the craft bay on the port side agape. If we could get inside, there was a chance.

As if on cue, the other two Scouts veered toward us instead of executing another run at the Mark III. I couldn't see them, but because of Bane, I was able to _feel_ the first pair of fighters simultaneously closing in pursuit. It was a squeeze tactic, and we were dead if it snapped shut on the dropship.

Aided once more by the calm senses and calculation of the alien's mind and the awareness of my own physical limitations, I saw only one avenue of escape. When the scouts fired, I nearly forgot to give Caryn a brief verbal warning before I goosed the last notch of throttle and leaned into the controls.

"Hang on!"

The stars spun on a wild axis as the dropship barrel-rolled. Two of the anti-matter missiles missed only by the breadth of our ship's width as it spun. I pulled the controls right and up, bringing the vessel's spin to a stomach-wrenching halt, and banked out with everything she had to give.

Although the last set of opposing projectiles missed our dropship, they actually hit _each othe_r, detonating beneath the keel with a horrendous blast.

My mental link with Bane was finally broken as the hydralisk was knocked over backwards by the sudden explosion. For a few fleeting seconds, I was lost in vertigo until my own senses returned. When they did, my shoulder blade was throbbing in pain and the master alarm was going off.

As my eyes focused, I suddenly noticed that the windshield was spider-webbed with crackling, jagged lines that were quickly spreading. We were losing cabin pressure and the thrusters were stumbling, making the controls shudder in my hands, but the open craft bay on the Mark III was so close that I could see the rivets in the hull.

Engines coughing, I desperately nosed the dropship toward the bay and the armor plating rushed to meet us. Blue fire blotted out the view just before we passed inside; a pair of last-ditch shots from the protoss that went wide and exploded against the Mark III's hull.

I jammed the reverse thrusters when the flames washed over the windshield. A terrible screech of steel on steel instantly bombarded the ears as our dropship skidded into the open craft bay, actually bouncing once before grating out its moment in a slide to the rear bulkhead.

Moments after our battered craft heaved to a smoking halt, the bay's airlock doors could be heard closing with a comforting, muffled drum of steel. Caryn hit the release for the rear cargo door and I cut the power to the stuttering engines. Already, the Mark III began to tremor beneath us as the scouts resumed their attack outside.

"We have to get to the bridge!" I yelled over my shoulder to the alien passengers, "Those things are going to blow the ship full of holes if we don't start the warp drives pronto!"

Bane and San'Dreale piled out the back, and I would have been right behind them if the buckle to my harness hadn't jammed in the crash. Caryn noticed my difficulty with a huff and leaned over to help.

I saw a movement from the edge of my vision and looked up through the cracked viewports to see the bulkhead door opening. A tall, alien figure stood on the other side, its body and long robes drifting in the air as if gravity didn't apply. I had only seen this variation of Protoss once before, eight years ago on Rakeem's carrier. _It was a High Templar. _

A brief electrical buzz was the only warning before the very air in the hangar exploded to life with a white, crackling light. I instinctively covered my face as the ruined windshield shattered inward and every instrument among the controls erupted in a fountain of sparks. Flashing psionic tendrils lashed around the opening where the neo-glass used to be, searing long black gashes in the metal. If Caryn and I were outside the ship during the psionic storm, we would have been cooked alive.

The templar attack lasted almost five seconds when the angry bluish energy and its vicious crackle suddenly died out as if someone had tripped over the cord. I uncovered my face in time to see the assailing Protoss grimly drop to its knees and flop forward on the deck, its head missing from a few well-placed hydalisk spikes.

Caryn and I barely had enough time to reach behind our seats and grab our respective weapons before a whole conga-line of Zealots surged around the thresh hold.

The first melee warrior fell quickly beneath a barrage of lead from my gauss rifle and a finishing spike from Bane. Only a second slow, another crumpled to the thundering report of Caryn's sniper rifle.

Despite the bottle-neck from the bulkhead door and our offending ranged weapons, the mindless Protoss pushed through by the pair and spilled across the hangar toward us with reckless abandon. Caryn and I continued firing through the dropship's windshield like a make-shift pill box when the zealots closed the distance to Bane.

Two of them came at him from both sides, but the hydralisk only turned to crush the one on the right. Singing through the air as an arc of blue light, San'Dreale's warp blade fell across the enemy from the left, sending the hapless warrior spinning back to the deck in a torrent of dissipating energy.

Once sworn enemies, the two aliens stood back-to-back and reared their weapons together against the encroaching wave of psionic dismemberment.

San'Dreale's warp blade cleaved the air again, repelling another zealot that dove at him with its daggers whirling and Bane caught the next in a wicked upper-cut that plowed through the warrior's charge and sent him reeling over backwards.

Caryn finished reloading her sniper rifle just as my weapon ran dry, and she leaned forward to get an angle at the ring of targets. They were warily slashing and feigning at Bane and San'Dreale, trying to form an opening to attack, when Caryn's C-7 lashed the ears again. A zealot on the outside of the mob took the round square in the back while another flipped over the whole group and flopped to the deck in two halves; a result of getting too close to the hydralisk in the center.

Half a dozen protoss had been slain or lay dying, but there were twice that many still fighting to get a stab at Bane or San'Dreale.

"Break onto _my_ damned ship, attack _my_ friends?" I growled as I dropped the empty gauss rifle and awkwardly reached for the C-8 with my good arm, "I clear ships _for_ _a living_!"

"_Bane!_" I yelled through the windshield as I leaned out with the shell launcher, "Incoming!"

The wild idea passed to Bane and then to San'Dreale like the leap of spark. In one motion, the Templar slipped behind the hydralisk as Bane braced with both scythes folded in front of his face.

The hearty kick of the C-8 made my ribs scream, but I ignored it outright and indiscriminately fired all eight rounds into the crowd of zealots in rapid succession. I lost sight of the targets by the third round, their flying bodies and swirling, blue death-auras swallowed by a blossom of fire that billowed to the hangar ceiling.

As the flames dissipated and the smoke drifted back, the smoldering hydralisk was still standing in the center. Not a single zealot was left alive. While I watched, Bane relaxed his brace and the Templar leaned out from the cover of the hydralisk's armored backside and blinked at the carnage.

Caryn uncovered her ears and shook her head in astonishment,

"Sonofa-bitch, _Reece!_ How did you know that would work?"

"Because I've done it before," I replied quickly as I jumped up and rushed to my equipment in the cargo hold, "_Nobody_ breaks onto my ship."

San'Dreale's foot falls and the heavy _thump-slide _of the hydralisk shook the grated walkway behind me as I led the aliens through the Mark III at a jog. The corridor lights flickered and the deck trembled with the continued bombardment of the scouts. On every wing, the battle alarms were wailing, but I was determined to make this right. I wasn't going to let that archon do this to me again. _Not this time_.

With the C-8 gripped in one hand and my gauss pistols at their places on my hips, I followed the intruders' path through the main wing. It was obvious that Dramier had acquired some knowledge of Terran ships, because their trail led straight to the bridge.

Every door was locked from the inside, but the zealots had simply carved through the steel with their psionic blades as if they had used cutting torches. The double blast doors to the _Mark III's_ bridge were open at the head of the next incline, but we all came to a halt at the top.

Five zealots and another High Templar stood at the head of the bridge, and three of them held Mich, T.J. and Mosely hostage at the points of psionic blades.

"Sorry, kids," Boss apologized as he looked up, "We held out as long as we could."

Mich was a mess; blood ran down one side of his face and the eye on that side was swollen shut. The zealot was holding him on his feet by one arm and the other was twisted at an odd angle just above the wrist. T.J. was in similar shape, although he didn't speak when our eyes met. He just grinned widely, blood showing between his teeth. Mosely must have fought like a bear; he was busted, bleeding all over and missing a boot.

"Hang in there, guys," I growled with clenched teeth, squeezing the C-10's pistol grip with white knuckles, "We'll get you out of this!"

Caryn swung her sniper rifle up to her shoulder.

"_Wait!_" San'Dreale's telepathic voice hissed, "Their shields! We cannot stop them before they attack!"

Dramier's unworldly laughter came to us through the minds of the enslaved Protoss as they held my friends inches from the searing blades of death.

"...One of the greatest flaws of sentience is the inability to accept sacrifice. _How pathetic!_ The fact that I brought the _mighty Zeratul _to his knees in the same manner is more satisfying than I could have ever imagined!"

"_Cowardly_ _fool_!" Bane rumbled with suppressed rage, "You corrupt your own people even as they struggle against the might of the Zerg! You risk all sanctity of life in pursuit of your own petty agenda!"

Dramier's telepathic laughter escalated before the ghostly choir of his voice lashed out with no warning.

"_My_ agenda?" The words wailed, "I had presumed Rakeem's _fabled hero _would be more insightful! My work here is in effort of a greater cause; _pity_ none of you will live to see it to fruition."

"_Reece,_"

Bane's telepathic words shimmered through my boiling thoughts, just a whisper over the turmoil,

"_We can stop them, but we must strike as one. When the time is right, use your weapons on the Protoss in the center. I will take the Templar and Caryn the other._"

My own silent response flashed back over the hydralisk's mental link instantly.

"_How will I know when?_"

Bane did not reply while Dramier's psychotic voice continued.

"...My _sincerest apologies _for keeping you vermin waiting! Just a few more moments now and the rest of my toys will arrive to finish annihilating your feeble _battle cruiser_."

"Shoot these bastards, Reece!" Mich yelled as the ship's range scanner chirped with temporal anomalies; signaling the arrival of more enemies.

I could practically _feel _the heat churning beneath Bane's eyes as they burned a fierce crimson, staining the bridge in a red hue.

"_No one moves!_" Dramier's pawns echoed, "So long have I waited for this moment; Now that it is here, I will let _nothing _take it..."

The Archon's twisted words trailed off as a faint psionic buzz began to float in the air. It grew in strength until the ship shuddered once beneath us. Only when the power on the bridge began to dim did I suddenly recognize what Bane was doing. Lastly, the zealot's psi blades flickered out just before the ship was plunged into three seconds of darkness.

In spite of my bad arm, I dropped the C-10 and pulled both gauss pistols from their holsters. I was joined by Bane and Caryn with her rifle in a furious hail of thundering lead and whistling hydralisk spines.

When the lights and systems returned, Mosely slumped unconscious to the deck with the ballistic riddled protoss. Without their plasma shields, all of them were rendered temporarily defenseless against our unexpected attack.

Mich dropped forward onto his knees and glanced blankly at the zealot that flopped to the floor next to him. It was the one that held him hostage.

"...It was about damned time! _Now help me fly us the hell outta here!_"

I jammed the gauss pistols back in their holsters, scooped up the C-10 with my good arm and began crossing the bridge while the secondary perimeter alarm suddenly started blaring. Reflexively, I covered my face in passing as one of the maimed Protoss burned from existence with a brief blue fire.

The holographic scanner projection flashed up as I put my palms on the podium and my heart skipped a beat. A pair of Protoss Carriers and a dozen additional fighters had emerged from warp space in attack formation. We would be lucky if we had a full minute before they closed the distance to weapon range.

San'Dreale was helping T.J. stand and Mich just managed to stumble to the ship's drive console without falling back down when Bane crossed the bridge to join me. He didn't have to study the hologram to understand the situation.

"We must go! _Now!_"

Mich spat and replied from his controls,

"For once, I have to agree with you, Bigg's! Reece, is the core ready for warp jump?"

I hit a few keys on the console in front of me and read back the display as the deck rocked beneath us.

"Twenty seconds to core max," I winched as an annoying buzzer began chirping and quickly added to my report, "All bandits have target lock."

"Where's our next stop, Biggie?" Mich barked as the engine cores could be heard reaching their crescendo. The telepathic answer came from Bane and San'Dreale simultaneously.

"_Shakuras!_"

The scanner image revealed half a dozen fighters strafing the Mark III. More of them were falling in as the Carriers began deploying their payload of robotic interceptors. For those few moments before the warp drives reacted, we were helpless as the bridge heaved around us with the ever-increasing bombardment.

There was a brief sensation of weightlessness as the stars suddenly stretched out to reach by us, akin to the feeling of falling. Then just as quickly, everything returned to a resemblance of normal as the hysterical perimeter alarms died off. Dramier's stolen fleet was already a half-million miles behind us, but it would be a twenty-seven hour jump to Shakuras and we didn't even know if the Mark III could still complete the trip.

"Bane," I said over my shoulder, having breathed a wary sigh of relief in our fragile window of safety, "Help San'Dreale take the guys to the medical bay. Caryn and I will do a quick damage assessment and I'll be down to help."

The hydralisk responded with a short nod and a growl before moving to scoop Mosely up with booth scythes like a living fork lift. TJ and Mich leaned on Rakeem's old student and they all filed silently off the bridge.

Once I was reasonably assured of the Mark III's immediate stability, I left Caryn to watch the bridge while I went to help with the guys. There were times when one of us would get hurt on a job, but now Caryn, Bane and San'Dreale were the only ones left uninjured. Next time, we would be heading straight into the maw of the beast and the consequences would be worse. _Much worse._

And it would be my fault.

I nearly stopped in mid-step. Mich and the gang took me in and raised me after Bane died on Rakeem's carrier, despite how easily they could have dumped me off at any backwater settlement in the sector. They taught me to fight, gave me transportation and a place to live, and were the closest thing I've ever had to a real family. I would never forgive myself if something happened to one of them while fighting _my battle._

And what of Bane? The noble creature had already sacrificed itself to save me more times than I cared to remember. Yet, if it came to the decision once more, I knew he would do it again without hesitation.

Mich was right all along. I was being too careless, too wreckless. I would have been dead a dozen times over if it wasn't for the intervention of those I cared about, and sooner or later, one of them would end up paying that price in my stead. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

_Never again, _I thought as my pace quickened, _ I would never let it happen again._

Mosely was laid out on the triage table and, with Mich's instruction, San'Dreale was already starting the bio-grafts and regeneration accelerators. T.J. was in the next-to-worst shape and I drained almost half a TRA cell getting him on his feet again. Boss already had most of his flesh wounds sealed up, but he was still cradling his arm. All totaled, they were very lucky to have escaped a brawl against nine-foot aliens with only a few bad bruises, cuts and a couple broken bones.

After T.J. was able to finish his own bandaging, I helped Mich set and wrap his arm, which had fractured just above the wrist. Finally, the stuttering warp drives became too much for Boss and he sent me away.

"Go take care of damage control on the bridge before this thing blows up beneath us, Reece! We'll get the rest of this under control and meet you there."

I was hesitant to leave at first, with Mosely still in bad shape, but San'Dreale looked down at me with an assuring look in his dark eyes.

"He is correct, Young One. Personal aid here means nothing if this vessel is left compromised."

I nodded and glanced to Bane before turning to leave for the bridge again,

"Stay here for me, Bud, just in case they need something."

The hydralisk mimicked my nod with a low growl and I left the sick bay at a jog.

After running every automated diagnostic, the damage report was official. The short bought with the Protoss left us with three auto-turrets down, multiple hull breaches on both the port and starboard sides and one burned-out warp reactor. The steerage hold had to be remotely sealed off due to a complete compromise of atmospheric pressure and I actually had to bring the ship out of warp long enough to power up an auxiliary drive and shut down the scorched one.

By moving from console to console and pecking away for the better side of four hours, I was able to finish the task that usually went to six crewmen. All the while, Caryn kept a watch on the scanners and engine integrity, occasionally even helping with the repetitious chore of rerouting the laundry list of damaged power and life-support systems.

If I expected lectures or snide remarks from her, I was stunningly mistaken. Caryn carried about the tasks before her with a soft, silent efficiency I did not know she possessed. Eventually, I literally became concerned about her and stopped to ask if she was alright.

She said she was fine, just a little shaken up, but that didn't seem like the wildfire of a girl that took pleasure in striking me with metal objects. When I stole glances at her eyes, she was the same Caryn, but _something_ was different. I could only chalk it up to weariness or, _perhaps_, the two near-misses with the Protoss had sobered her just a little bit.

Mich startled us both when he stepped through the door to the bridge, his bad arm in a sling.

"How's Mosely and T.J. doing?" I asked as I turned back to the console in front of me. Boss limped across the bridge, stopping to check Caryn's monitor.

"T.J. is going to be back in my hair in no time flat, but Mosely took a real beating. We'll have to work carefully with the carbon grafters to sate some internal bleeding, but that Protoss pal of yours has a real knack for patching up busted Terrans."

Mich left Caryn's console to push me out from in front of mine,

"You kids go get cleaned up and try to get a little rest. I'll finish up from here."

"No way," I protested in vain, "What if something goes wrong? You've only got one good arm and if-"

Boss wasn't going to hear any of it and interrupted me in mid-sentence,

"Even with one arm, I'm better than you'll be on your best day, kid, and I'm _still_ the captain of this ship. Now I order you, _both of you_, to go take some down time; you look like hell."

For lack of energy to fight, I backed down and looked to Caryn, who seemed relieved that I was accepting the opportunity for a break.

"Care for a drink?"

For the first time since we left Braxis, Caryn cracked a smile.

"It's about damn time you offered one."

The Mark III's cantina was cluttered with keepsakes from different fights and jobs that Mich, the crew and I brought back over the years. Dented squares of various armored plates, shattered combat helmets and commandeered weapons lined the walls. A loop of slow, drawling country songs began playing over the jukebox when I flicked on the lights and stepped behind the bar.

Fully crewed, the Mark III took a team of twenty people and the cantina had ample seating for that many and more. The only shame was that it was rarely used as more than a trophy room and a mostly-empty lounge when the crew and I had off-time between jobs. Things were going well enough to begin hiring additional crew members, but that's when the Hiemdall Defense Core seized the ship as a stolen craft. The bottles had sat on the shelves for two years since and now I had to rub the dust off the labels to read what they contained.

_Olde Earth _brand scotch was the beverage of choice and I poured two glasses with just ice. Caryn thanked me quietly as I handed her a glass and plunked down on a stool next to her at the end of the bar. There was a large port-hole style window at this wall and I stared at the passing stars with heavy sigh.

Now that I finally had time to simply sit and think, all I wanted to do was sleep. With a start, I realized that I was still wearing all my ammunition and gear. Unexpectedly, Caryns arms fell over my shoulders as she hugged me from her seat on the stool behind me.

She made no move to grope at me, nor I her. Both mentally exhausted, we simply hung like that for several minutes before I felt her soft breath on my hair.

"How did this happen to you?"

That question was the last thing I expected from her, or from anyone, but I felt too weary for surprise. Instead, I laughed lightly and spoke to her without breaking my stare on the sliding view of space.

"That's a_ long_ story, Princess. Remember? And you have to ask nicely."

"_And_ it's a long ride to Shakuras," she whispered and kissed my neck, "_Please_. I want to know."

I was quiet for a while longer. Despite the countless times I had relived it all through memory, it became suddenly difficult to convey it in words. Caryn hugged me a little tighter and laid her chin on my shoulder, as if to encourage me. Finally, I decided it was best to start where it began.

Caryn hung on my shoulders in silence as I told her what was, essentially, the story of my life. I began with how I was shipped to the Rusty Bastard to work for captain Clem as a child, how I learned to maintain, then repair small craft and eventually fly them. I even included some brief stories of Jill, Mike and Randy that worked there with me, and the foggy memory of my parents before they were drafted and declared missing-in-action four months later.

It all changed as I came to the day that I had an ore shipment to Korhal on my supposed time off. I told her how I first met Bane as a Zergling in that besieged compound, and of the first few occasions in which he had saved my life; so often at the cost of his own.

I recalled in awe when I first laid eyes on the alien's intimidating Hunter-Killer form. With a sense of wonder and nostalgia, I told her about my terrifying and exhilarating flight on the back of a Mutalisk when we escaped the wraiths and crashed in the canyon.

Sometimes, the story was fast and my voice gained strength with the tales of narrow rescues and escapes, each more outlandish than the last. Currently oblivious to my bad arm, I gestured with both hands in attempt to explain the events in greater detail.

A rogue chuckle occasionally forced its way up as I caught myself getting side tracked by the finer points of top-speed zergling riding over uneven terrain or the unique difficulties of teaching a hydralisk to read.

All too often, the words were few and sad, like when I told her of the night I spent sheltered from the rain beneath a mutalisk's wing, watching the red lamps of Bane's eyes flicker out as he fought a losing battle against death; when he took the monstrous form of the lurker to drive off Dramier's stolen fleet, knowing he condemned himself in doing so. Then, how I nearly killed my friend when we met again on that merchant ship eight years later.

When there was, at last, nothing left to tell, Caryn kissed me on the neck again and whispered softly.

"Thank you, hero-boy. That _was_ quite a story, but you left something out."

"What's that?" I asked, snapping back from my memories.

Caryn stood up and ran her hands down my chest, seeking my lips with hers. I could not deny them. After the kiss, she answered.

"You forgot the part where you get the girl and save the world."

"_I'm working on it,_" I grinned sheepishly and seized her chin, stealing a kiss of my own. She didn't object, and instead, slid around the side of the chair and onto my lap without breaking contact.

In that precious time, we forgot our fear, doubt and weariness through each other. It was not the fleeting, hasty lust like before, in the dropships, but something slower and infinitely sweeter. Those moments were unlike anything I'd ever experienced. They were something _more_.

At a point, Caryn stood up, drawing me with her by hand and lips. I was physically powerless and utterly unwilling to resist; I could no more give her up in that moment than I could my own life. With the dexterity of a thief, her free hand found the buckles to my ammunition belts and weapon holsters, leaving them to drop on the deck behind us as we left the cantina together.

For a few minutes, I just watched Caryn as she slept. The transformation was mind-boggling. Her face looked soft and relaxed, showing no trace of the scrutinizing scowl she seemed to wear every waking moment. I wanted to sleep as well, but the cold feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach would allow me no rest.

I had no comprehension of what lay ahead on Shakuras, but the urge to turn back grew with every passing moment. After all, I had what _I_ wanted now; my friends, Bane and Caryn. We had a ship that could take us anywhere in the known four sectors. It would be all too easy to alter the course of the _Mark Three_ for another backwater planet and start over again somewhere.

_And then what?_

My shimmer of hope was struck down by that thought like the rebound of a hammer. It would all simply happen again. Like a curse, _Bane's curse_, the Zerg would follow us to any world. It had been happening all along and I refused to see it. _There was no running from this. _The only true solution was to face it; face the swarm. At last, I slipped quietly out of Caryn's bunk without waking her.

Treading in my socks, the only sound I made was the hiss of the pneumatic door as I left. I backed out of Caryn's quarters carrying my boots in my good hand and turned around once I was sure the door was shut. When I did, I took one step and came face-to-armored-face with a drooling, ten-foot monster. I would have visibly recoiled, had I not been half expecting it.

"Hi, Bane. How are the guys doing?"

The Hunter-Killer moved aside as I walked forward, answering as if it took a moment to remember who I was talking about.

"Your Terran brethren will live. The one you call Mosely must rest, but he shall recover as well; thanks in no small favor to the machines."

The corridor at the end of the crews quarters ended at a viewport of the stars drifting by outside, and I stopped to lean against it with a sigh,

"That's good, buddy, real good."

I could feel the red glow of Bane's gaze intensify, but I focused on the abyss of space instead. When I didn't meet the hydralisk's seeking eyes, it moved to stand next to me with a low growl.

"Something troubles you, mortal. I can feel it like a weight on your mind."

After a long moment, I finally looked up at the crimson lamps of the alien, still unsure how to explain what I felt.

"Bane, I-I know that..." I began with a stutter, before exhaling slowly to calm my thoughts, "I don't want to do this anymore."

The hydralisk hardly moved. Somehow, he knew that I hadn't found the right words. My friend silently waited until I continued.

"What I meant to say was..." I paused again in defeat, "I'm afraid, Bane. _I'm really afraid_...of what it might cost to stop the Zerg."

Neither one of us spoke again for a while. I leaned into the viewing glass, trying to listen to the dull thrum of the reactors more than my own racing thoughts.

"Fear is not a thing of the Zerg," Bane began with the reply I knew by heart, but quickly changed tones, "_However_, in the time I have spent among your species, I have learned many things. To learn to..._care _for life, even my own, was also to know fear."

When I looked up again at the hydralisk's burning eyes, the truth of its words shocked me.

"In all my sentient memory of existence, Reece, I have never known fear such as this. I am also..._afraid._"

Once again, we both fell silent. I was in a state of near disbelief; I had always seen this creature as a living boulder of resolve. Unshakable, unmoving, Bane's strength was always the single constant in my mind. To know that such a being could feel the same fear took the edge off my own. I almost smiled as I thought of this; my friend would save me from anything, even the haunting voices of my dread.

With my mind slightly more at ease, another, entirely different thought crossed my mind. What if I was worried about nothing? What would happen, if by some odd twist of fate, this whole hair-brain plan worked out and we were finally safe from the swarms?

"Bane," I spoke up with an air of curiosity, "If we live through this–both of us...would you be..._free? _What would you do then?_"_

Now it was Bane's turn to avoid my gaze; he surprised me by doing so in the first place and again with the swiftness of his answer.

"_Freedom_ is not a thing of my species, Reece. Even with the aid of your mind, the concept is foreign to me. Can one not understand freedom and yet still be free?"

We were both quiet for a time when an idea came to me.

"It ultimately boils down to choice, Bane. You _could_ have given in to the Overmind, but you _chose _to stand against it. Nothing can truly take away the freedom of another as long as they still have a choice."

I paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.

"Now, if there was nothing left to fight, what would you _chose_ to do?"

Bane remained silent and still for a long time, as if the question had never occurred to him. As easily as the alien could gauge my mind, I could also see his across our mental link. I saw my friend as he saw everyone; the body only as a translucent puppet worn by a heart and mind that betrayed true emotion and intention. I saw twisting uncertainty and cold emptiness sheathing thoughts left half-finished. The fathomless genetic knowledge of the collective Zerg species, gathered through the eons in pursuit of perfection, yielded absolutely nothing in the ways of freedom.

"I have never been without a known purpose," the hydralisk spoke slowly with its mind, "What is a weapon without an enemy?"

A weak smile pried its way onto my tired face as I stooped down to lace my boots. As I did, I suddenly noticed that I was ravenously hungry.

"That's the thing about having a choice, Bane. You don't have to be a weapon," I said as I stood up again, strangely feeling much better despite the shadow of Shakuras hanging overhead.

"Just be a _friend_."

Out of all the Terran concepts Bane did not understand, _one_ of them rang through like a beacon parting the darkness. The hunter killer was still again for a short while, its mind turning suspiciously with my answer as if it couldn't believe the key to something so cosmic could be so... _simple_.

My insides groaned hysterically, reminding me that I'd better eat something before we reached Shakuras or I'd have to face the swarms–and possibly the Protoss–while tired _and_ hungry.

"Think about it for a while," I said as I threw a sideways punch at the hydralisk's arm, grating the skin off two knuckles in the process, "I'm going to the mess hall for some grub; You hungry, too?"

Without hesitation, Bane's eyes burned with all their usual ferocity and his growl shook the deck beneath my boots.

"_Immensely!_ Let us make haste."

Another idea hit me as the hydralisk and I left the crew wing side by side. This one would _really_ throw the alien's world for a loop.

"...You know, Buddy, Terrans have_ thousands_ of different ways to prepare and flavor animal proteins, and you've only tried three or four."

Mich, Mosely and T.J. joined Caryn, Bane and I on the bridge shortly before we exited warp space for Shakuras. Everyone but the hydralisk and San'Dreale were in CMC combat suits. I didn't object to the bulky armor this time; they could be the only things to save us if we lost atmospheric pressure in battle.

The armored combat-plates were in place over the forward view ports behind San'Dreale as he gave us the breakdown on the situation we faced.

"Dramier now holds over half the Shakuras High Council mentally captive, essentially granting him full control over their standing fleet in addition to the warriors and ships already directly under his influence. Such manipulation cannot have come with more unfortunate timing; although Dramier seems to be mobilizing much of the Fleet in an effort to stave off further Zerg advancement, he is using his influence over the council to over-rule any direct assault. My friends, this crisis can wait no longer."

San'Dreale had to stoop over slightly to gesture at the holoscans of the planet, which TJ carefully manipulated for him as the Templar continued.

"The Swarm front encompasses half the western hemisphere and their onslaught presses forward without cease. This is the battle of Auir all over again save for one difference: It is only by the uneasy unity of the Templar castes that my people have been able to hold off total destruction until now. Granted we are able to free those enslaved to Dramier, any counter-offensive now seems hopeless against so many."

I was at a loss for ideas, but I knew Bane would speak up quickly.

"I shall provide a window to strike at the Overmind, but we cannot prevail without aid. Dramier must be stopped or all is forfeit."

The course computer at my console chimed and I began cutting power to the warp drives as I interrupted with the news.

"We're nearing the end of the jump."

"Bring her out in high orbit," Mich added nervously, "I want to get a _good look _at this turd before we decide where to step in it."

Everyone fell suddenly silent as the dull hum of the reactors wound down. When they reached a steady idle, Boss spoke up again.

"Run a low frequency scan, T.J. Just take a nice quiet peek around, to see what's out there."

"Already ahead of you, Boss," the bruised and bandaged mercenary spoke without looking up from the hologram podium.

A sea of red and blue dots covered the sphere like moss and swirled around it in long clouds.

"There are so many damn signals out there that the computers are having trouble making heads or tails of it. Our big concern right now is a large swarm of Zerg Scourge in high stationary orbit. We'll be passin' over them shortly, but we best keep a safe distance."

T.J. squinted at his screen as he suddenly scrabbled away at the keys,

"We now have a strong Protoss signal five clicks out, Boss, but there's a lot of distortion."

Mich glared at the hologram impatiently as it began layering over with blotches of red and blue.

"Isolate the signal."

Just as we all began moving in to take a closer look at the holoscan, the image began to flicker, prompting T.J. to grumble something inaudible and smack the podium with one hand.

With no further warning, every light and screen on the bridge went dark and the deck heaved beneath us as if we'd run aground against a mountain. Mich yelled when he fell on his arm and I groped in the darkness for the drive console, bracing against it as the Mark III rocked around us.

The reactors could he heard dropping off completely as the lights on the bridge haphazardly flicked back on and the trembling slowed to a stop.

"What the hell was that?" Mich yelled as Mosely helped him up, "Screw stealth! Give me a full scan of the immediate area and get that reactor back online! We're a sitting target up here!"

T.J. began rapping at the hologram podium again and I stepped back to my own controls, but nothing was responding.

"Everything's locked up!" T.J. exclaimed, swearing when his commands were ignored by the computer, "Nothing's working!"

"Same here," I added quickly, "The drives have been shut down and the weapon systems are offline!"

Then the room fell dark again when the lights dimmed and the hologram podium flashed back to life as if on its own accord. The swirling, fiery image it produced stained the bridge red and brought with it a telepathic laughter that seemed to scream, moan and whisper all at once. Caryn gasped and covered her ears despite what little good it would do.

"_Dramier..._" Bane growled low in his throat as he approached the gloating hologram. The rest of us fanned out around the hydralisk, but stayed behind him as if it offered some protection from the malevolent entity.

"My dear _Hero_," the voices wailed in kind, "I must honestly pronounce my surprise that you were able to escape my last little trap. _It will not happen again_."

The very sight of the creature that had cost me my friend eight years ago instantly brought my blood to a rolling boil. Before I was conscious of my own actions, I pushed in front of Bane and all but spate at the hologram.

"Remember_ me_, you cowardly red bastard? You're not going to get away with this any more, _you hear me?_"

I felt Caryn's hand fall on my shoulder, as if to hold me back, but I shrugged it off,

"You _will not _do this to me again! _This ends here!_"

The creature glared back at me through the hologram, its laughter suddenly sated. On their own, the armored plates over the forward bridge view-ports began sliding back, revealing the dark, battle-scarred sphere of Shakuras. Shimmering blue-white lights lit the windows as a blockade of Protoss warships materialized from beneath the cloak of an immense vessel larger than two Carriers combined. They held a tight semicircle formation before our prone Battle Cruiser; even if we were able to fire the warp drives again, we would not escape their weapons a second time.

"As you can all see, young defiant one, you are correct." The voices cried out again, "This _will _end here! I have come to stamp out this problem personally; Your pathetic craft is now slave to my will. The Cerebrate's telepathic prank may have been enough to save you before, but now it will avail you not! _You shall all die here and there is nothing you can do to stop me. NOTHING!_"

Dramier's nightmarish words left the bridge in silence, but I sneered at the hologram and drew a gauss pistol with my good arm.

"Think again."

I jammed the trigger, pelting the hologram podium with lead until it blinked out again in a fountain of sparks.

Mich shoved me after I holstered my weapon and turned around,

"Why on good Earth did you do that? You _know_ how expensive those damned things are to replace!"

I ignored Boss outright and looked straight to my alien friend.

"Bane, call the Zerg."

The whole crowd aside from the hydralisk rang out in simultaneous protest, but Bane silenced them all with his response.

"You know what it is that you ask, mortal?"

"You're damn right I do," I shot back, striding away from the smoking hologram to sweep a hand at the wide view of Shakuras, "We're passing over a huge flock of orbital scourge right now and if they come for us, they'll have to go through Dramier's fleet first."

"That's suicide!" Caryn suddenly yelled at me with all her old scorn, "They'll kill us too!"

"We have to try," I fired back, "Dramier is on one of those ships, and if he goes down before us, we'll get control back."

As if to add emphasis to my statement, multiple targeting locks chimed from the battle computers; Dramier was preparing his weapons to attack. For a fleeting moment, nobody said anything. Then, Mich nodded slowly.

"The kid's right."

"_No way!_" T.J. burst out, "Boss, tell me you aren't actually gonna do this?"

Mich ran his metal-shrouded hand through his thinning hair and practically growled in helpless frustration,

"I don't like the damn fool idea any more than you do, but if you've got a better one, then you're welcome to jump out an airlock and try it! We don't have a single ship left on board that's still space-worthy anyway, so I say we bring the Zerg."

Always a man of few, often-wise words, Mosely finally spoke up after Boss's retort left T.J. silent.

"We know we die if we do nothin'. We git em' before he gits us, we got a shot."

San'Dreale nodded with Mosely's words and stepped forward.

"With such might at Dramier's disposal, we will get no better chance. Let it be done."

It was settled. The hydralisk shut its eyes and exhaled slowly. The rumble of its breath made the only sound. When Bane opened his eyes again, they burned like twin crimson hearths as he offered a brief telepathic warning.

"_Prepare yourselves_."

"Everyone to a station!" Mich ordered as Bane turned to face the open forward viewports,

"If this works I want Mosely, Caryn and T.J. on forward turrets! Reece, you're on emergency start-up and navigation with me! Blue, take the fourth turret station and make like the others; they're point and shoot!"

The power on the bridge began failing again as we rushed around the still hydralisk to take our posts. Our lights blinked out entirely and the Protoss warships shimmered blue in the view ports as their plasma shields reacted to the telepathic disturbance.

Moments after power returned to the bridge, the city-sized flagship of Dramier's fleet could be seen shifting in place, turning to face us flat-on. The monumental Khaydarin crystal at its core gathered lashing tendrils of energy from others on the perimeter and focused them into a beam that all but enveloped the Mark III in a shaft of intense white light.

"Hey Blue?" Mich practically croaked, "_What is that...?_"

The light became utterly blinding, filling the bridge as the Templar answered mechanically.

"It is a Protoss Mothership; this weapon is called upon to incinerate planetary Zerg infestations that have grown beyond conventional means of purification. When the charge phase is complete, the graviton cannon will fire."

Even with my reflective visor down, I had to shield my eyes with one hand until the light suddenly receded. For a moment, I struggled to comprehend what was filling the panoramic view ports of the bridge. Yet, once my eyes focused again, there was no mistake.

_The Zerg had arrived._

Nothing short of a primal force of nature, the oncoming curtain of scourge surged through space like a living tidal wave and broke headlong upon the unsuspecting Protoss fleet. Dozens of scouts, six carriers and even Dramier's mother-ship all but disappeared from view beneath countless billowing explosions of greed acid and bursts of blue flame.

"Something better give _soon!_" Mich growled as he repeatedly toggled the emergency power, "There's a damned shit-storm of em!"

Aside from a slipstream behind the sinking bulk of the flagships, the oncoming cloud of scourge washed around the stricken fleet and quickly began filling our view. Running over Dramier's ships was merely an inconvenience; now they were coming for us.

My heart leapt as the Mark III's deck shuddered beneath my boots and the instrument panel under my shaking hands suddenly glowed to life. The console in front of me began reading gradual acceleration, a valiant effort by the emergency thrusters coming online.

"_It worked!" _ I yelled triumphantly, "She's ours again!"

"He's right!" Caryn whooped when she swung around to take the triggers of her turret station. The viewports quickly began flashing with air-to-air laser fire as Mosely, T.J. and Caryn sprang into action. San'Dreale hesitated, but only for a moment, and four swaths of green explosions raked back and forth across the oncoming numbers of scourge.

The defensive turrets stemmed a fraction of the flow, but the suicidal creatures streaked through by the pair and arched into the Mark III"s hull in rapid succession, causing the bridge to heave and tremble around us. Red flags began popping up on my screens like an infectious disease.

Out ahead of us, the scourge swarmed around Dramier's burning mothership in a great, churning cone; we would be overwhelmed in seconds if it kept pulling away.

"I'm going to cold-start the reactors!" I called over my shoulder to Mich, "Follow that bastard in–it's our only chance!"

If Boss didn't like the idea, he didn't waste any time objecting as he steadied himself at the flight console and barked a quick change of orders.

"T.J., Mose! Switch to aft turrets!"

I initiated the safety overrides and the drives stumbled to life, offering another burst of speed. Dramier's falling mothership filled the windshields and the scourge started chasing our ship from behind as the ones that didn't slam headlong into the colossal wreck were forced to turn around.

"There's too many of them!" T.J. yelled a warning as he frantically swivelled his turret controls. Bane fell forward and lodged his scythes in the deck and I was practically thrown from my station when the floor quaked violently with several brutal collisions.

"I'm losing her!" Mich grunted, fighting with the controls as the power flickered and faded.

I glanced back and forth between my console and the viewport. Both primary port thrusters were failing; the mothership was beginning to break up as it entered the atmosphere ahead of us and we were falling helplessly closer to the mass of burning debris. Ignoring the risk, I began powering up the last functional drive to charge the yamato capacitors.

"What the hell are you doing Reece?" Mich growled with the red lights from his console staining his face, "You're going to stall the reactors!"

"Thrusters are failing–we have to punch a hole in that thing!" I yelled back as the decked rocked again with another series of wild impacts.

T.J. swore as his turret station went dark with a brief burst of sparks,

"_Dammit! _Aft turret down!"

Dramier's mothership rapidly grew in detail, filling every forward viewport. The Mark III trembled, struggling to obey Mich's frantic commands to veer away as the collision alarm began blaring. Caryn yelped from her turret station,

"Here they come again!"

With the remaining wave of scourge closing like a swarm of angry, explosive bees and the burning mass of Dramier's mothership looming ahead, Mich finally cut reactor power from the engines at the last possible moment.

"_Fire!_"

The Mark III seemed to convulse around us with the effort as the lights and systems fell dark. For a few terrifying seconds, the rising pitch of the yamato capacitors made the only sound. The yellow hull of Dramier's ship seemed so close that we could see the separate metallic plates.

"_Visor's down!_" came Mich's booming command, "Brace for impact!"

With no further hesitation, the world blew up around us. The orange glow of fire was everywhere and I had only a vague recollection of being hurled to the deck in my clumsy powered suit. When the yamato cannon unleashed its nuclear payload at point-blank range, Dramier's burning Mothership erupted in a monstrous blast of fire and debris. The scourge flew headlong into the flames with our ship, culminating in an chain reaction of explosions visible from the surface of the planet.

The bridge groaned and wrenched around us like the twisted iron throes of something being tortured. By some miracle, the battle-grade neoglass remained intact despite the flames lashing at every viewport. The hellish chaos only seemed to intensify; I was sure the ship would come apart around us at any second, when suddenly, the firestorm broke.

Half-ablaze and trailing a cascade of black smoke, the Mark III fell through the spreading, fiery debris of Dramier's plummeted into Shakuras' upper atmosphere. Like a ray of hope, the view ports suddenly cleared, save for two great worms of smoke that poured over the front of the ship. The deck was still quaking steadily beneath me, but I managed to get a hand hold on the reactor console and haul myself up.

A quick glance around confirmed that everybody appeared to be unharmed for the moment, although Bane was the only one able to stay in place so far. I turned to the dim controls in front of me.

"Emergency power is failing," I stuttered, finding it difficult to see the readout with everything shaking and dark, "Drives two through six are down and all thrusters are offline!"

Mich pulled himself together at his podium and rapped the controls before replying with dread in his voice,

"I've got nothin' kid, she's a dead stick! It was a good plan until now."

Already, the view of the outside began fading again beneath a wash of bright red heat; the ship was entering the atmosphere almost broadsided. We would be lucky to get a thruster or two back online at all, much less in the minutes we had before the Mark III crumpled on the face of Shakuras like a scorched, empty beer can.

"Forget the engines!" I called as I gathered my ammunition belts with one arm, "Everyone on your feet; this is where we get off!"

"What are you talkin' about?" T.J. argued as he braced against his turret station in order to stand, "We don't have any more ships!"

It suddenly felt as if everyone's eyes were on me, but my reply didn't hesitate.

"We've still got _one_ ship left."

"_Oh no_," Caryn's voice scolded in disbelief, "Not _that_ ship!"

"Bane and I patched it up some; we'll ride this crate in as far as we can and the Consolation should take us in the rest of the way."

"Will that shot-up shit box actually fly?" T.J. asked with a mix of hope and disbelief.

Mich didn't wait for my response as he hit the emergency release for the hangar air locks.

"_Everyone to the craft bay! _We're jumping ship!"

I was suddenly grateful that Dramier's zealots had carved a path through the ship as we made for the hangar with all possible speed. The malevolent archon inadvertently left us an avenue of escape; even with Bane's help, it would have taken an hour to crack every door without power. The turbulence was relentless, threatening to throw any number of us to the deck or against a wall, and it often succeeded. Aside from our suit lights and the dim, crimson glow of Bane's eyes, the corridors were blacker than pitch and filling with smoke. Somewhere in the belly of the ship, the Mark III groaned continuously against the dull roar of re-entry outside.

It was a wordless, terrifying trek. Nobody spoke over the suit radios or otherwise. I kept waiting for the hallway to collapse or the floor to split open beneath us, but we survived to reach the sealed doors at the hangar bay.

Without being asked, Bane promptly tackled the metal slabs with both blades and began wrenching them apart. When the seal broke, the air pressure equalized with a blast of vapor and we hastily joined the hydralisk when the gap became wide enough for hand-holds.

Mich's ship was where we left it the day before, busted and broken on the forward end of the bay. The consolation sat in the last stall near the aft bulkhead; still awaiting the rest of her repairs. Over the course of the last week, Bane and I had addressed many of the mechanical problems and replaced some of the glass, but her hull had more holes than a dominion defense contract and she was running on fumes.

"You're sure this thing will fly?" Caryn's voice doubtfully crackled through my helmet speakers as we crossed the heaving, open craft bay at a stumbling run.

The double airlock doors were open to the atmosphere outside and the noise of the roaring air was tremendous; even with the suit radios, verbal communication was nearly impossible.

"We'll soon find out," I replied as we tromped around the small craft and began piling up the ramp two-by-two. In truth, I wasn't sure myself if the Consolation would survive the turbulence of a jettison-take off or if her bandaged flight systems could handle a full load. The interior lights flicked on when I followed Mich through the cargo hold and hit the power breakers, offering at least some reassurance.

"Alright," T.J. called forward when the hydralisk and templar squeezed on board last, "Light this candle!"

"Gladly," I mumbled, flicking the familiar levers to feed power to the repulsors.

However, nothing happened when I hit the ignition switch. I tried again. _Nothing_.

"Why the hell aren't we moving?" Caryn scolded nervously, but I didn't have time to answer. My mind was churning at breakneck speed: What could we have forgotten? Was there something I left out? Then it hit me.

_I left the ignition relay harnesses unplugged as a simple safety precaution._

"_Bane!_" I yelled over one shoulder as I tore my seat belt back off and kicked open the pilot hatch, "I need a lift!"

"Where do you think you're going? Get back in here!" Caryn called after me when I jumped outside. I all but ignored her again while Bane joined me at the Consolation's port side,

"This will only take a minute!"

The small craft's passengers yelped in surprise and stumbled to one side of the cramped hold when the Hunter-Killer hooked both blades under the curved hull and heaved the Consolation up on her edge.

I dropped to the deck on my back and kicked my way under the ship without hesitation. The junction panel was still open, but just reseating the small plastic connectors was a struggle with the clunky augmentation of the powered suit and the floor quaking beneath me.

A great wrenching noise moaned from the very metal beneath me; it sounded as if the armor plating was being twisted off the girders and the hangar rocked enough to make the Consolation bounce on her skids.

_ "Hurry Mortal!" _Bane growled.

Without warning, a beam came crashing through the hangar ceiling and buried itself in the deck somewhere behind Bane, bringing down a cascade of steel tiles and a twisted web of cabling. Caryn's voice screeched from inside the transport.

_"Reece!"_

The last jack was in a space too small for my suit's metal hand; with a grimace of determination, I twisted the robotic glove off and just managed to push the terminal home with the tips of my bare fingers.

The moment I slid out from beneath the Consolation, Bane let her drop on her skids and I jumped to my feet like I was being shot at. By the time I climbed back on-board through the pilot's hatch and plunked into my seat, the hydralisk was already in the cargo hold and everyone held their breath as I jammed the ignition switch once more.

This time, the Consolation's keel thrusters responded with a healthy blast and her floor lifted obediently beneath us. To a brief chorus of cheers, I leaned firmly on the worn controls and the hangar began slewing around in the new windshield.

The turbulence on the Mark III was escalating wildly; it took every shred of my concentration and coordination to counteract the heaving deck and line the ship up for an exit. The intense curtain of smoke washing by the open hangar door was a only grizzly reminder of how much worse it was about to get. I gave everybody one quick warning before goosing the throttles.

"_Hang on to something!_"

The open bay door lunged to meet us and the surging airstream seized the Consolation instantly. Akin to a leaf caught in a gale, the dropship rolled in the sudden torrent and the clouded horizon tumbled in the windshield. The thrusters wailed as I desperately fought to steady the ship.

With a long shudder, the Consolations engines finally caught up with her spinning inertia and the Mark III settled into view. I could hardly recognize the battered, blown-apart hulk as it sank away below. Both her primary and port engines were now gnarled, open craters of twisted metal and the entire starboard wing was nothing more than burning ruin. Her armored hull looked as if it was attacked by a cosmic scatter-gun; the scourge had utterly finished what Dramier's ambush began on Braxis.

As I veered out of the Mark III's smoke trail, Mich's voice sounded almost sad over the suit radios.

"That'smakes _two_ cruisers you owe me now, kid."

I tapped the instrument panel with my un-armored knuckles, frowning when the gauges appeared to be working properly.

"You're welcome to put it on my tab if I don't kill us," I nervously replied while cutting the throttle, "We're running on an emergency power cell and its fading fast."

Caryn's sharp retort made the speakers in my helmet squeal,

"We're what?"

"Hey," I said calmly, trying to mask my own fear with half-hearted spite, "I didn't even get a week to work on this thing; I'd like to see you do any better. Everyone just stay cool and help me look for a place to set down."

As if on cue, the cloud layer suddenly broke and the ground became visible. I was shocked by what I saw.

We were coming down over an active alien war zone. More Protoss than I knew existed sprawled in a snaking defensive line that stretched to the horizon; rows of cannon structures and legions of ground troops of all sizes and sorts were battling tooth and nail against an even greater force of Zerg.

_Thousands_ of carapace-clad beasts, far too numerous to count or tell apart, churned against the Protoss defenders like a primeval tide of scythes and claws. A twisting storm of aerial fighters from both sides clogged the airspace above, exchanging fire in a single massive, overlapping fur-ball.

Down and slightly out ahead, the falling hulk of the Mark III forced a trough through the airborne combatants while it dropped to the battlefield below us in with a delayed, pillowing explosion that lit the interior of the Consolation. Mutalisks and scouts coursed by the windshield, most seemingly intent just to get out of our way. As the war-laden surface of Shakuras swelled to meet us, a pair of mutalisks veered in from the front, intent on launching a head-on glauve wurm attack. Short of cutting all power and dropping out of the air, we were helpless to evade; it was taking the last wisps of energy from the emergency cells just to slow us to approach speed.

"Everyone hang on!" I yelled, gritting my teeth as the Mutalisks lined up for the shot.

Just when I thought they would attack, the zerg fliers suddenly exploded in twin clouds of red mist and tumbling, dismembered wings. Their gore stained the windshield a shade of red when we flew through it and a pair of Protoss Corsairs overtook us on each side. They flew out ahead, waggling before resuming a steady coarse out in front. Another set of mutalisk's approached to intercept, yet the Corsairs held their position and they all exchanged fire in passing.

The winged flyers disintegrated once again, but not before taking one of our unexpected escorts with them. A spray of metallic shrapnel peppered the Consolations hull when the fighter craft was hit with the acidic, biological projectiles and plummeted down, out of our view trailing a ribbon of blue flame.

As the Consolation descended into the frothing battle, the individual combatants took on detail. A river of zerglings flowed into the waiting blades of the zealots and the air above was a deadly crossfire of needle spines and explosive orbs of energy.

A wave of oozing, foot-long spikes pelted the ship's port side, half of them punching through the damaged plating like soggy cardboard to protrude half their length into the cargo hold. The Consolation's controls shuddered in my hands and the reverse thrusters instantly began stumbling. With startling speed, the ground rushed up to meet the nose of the vessel.

There was a tremendous initial impact that jarred open every compartment on the ship and killed what power remained in the systems. A mixed screech of steel on rock and carapace rang out as the Consolation ground out her momentum in a wild skid through the heart of the battle. Countless Zerg bodies crunched against the nose of the craft, some actually rolling over the front and off the windshield, leaving huge cracks behind.

With a stomach wrenching turn, the ship met a rise in the land and violently flipped over before finally coming to rest on its side.

I opened the visor on my suit, gasping for fresh air,

"Is everyone okay?"

To my relief, Mich's voice groaned from the dark cargo hold to the jumbled thuds of untangling combat armor.

"We're alive for the moment, but the doors jammed!"

I hung suspended above Caryn by my crash harness and she was favoring her right leg as she fought with her own belts.

"Get me _out of here!_"

"Hold on," I said calmly as I wriggled around to get a foot-hold on the center console before releasing my harness, "I'm coming to help."

Without warning, a screeching zergling lunged against the cracked windshield, spraying drool as it snarled and scrabbled at the dirty glass. Caryn screamed again as it was quickly joined by more and the little scythes began drumming against the hull like the start of a downpour.

I pulled the release for my belts and all but dropped against the center bulkhead. One zergling blade after another punched through the windshield as I drew my combat knife with my bare hand and slashed Caryn's harness straps.

Even with just one good leg, she practically climbed me to get away from the monsters breaking into the ship and I fell backwards when I pulled her out of the pilot's compartment by the arms. We spilled over into the cargo hold in a tangled heap, where T.J. and Mich hauled us to our feet as Mosely and San'Dreale shut the hatch to the cockpit.

Moon-light was already streaming into the cargo hold where the zerglings breached the pressure-hull and the impacts of scythe on steel were relentless.

Boss and I exchanged a white-faced glance in the cramped hold,

"What's the plan now, kid?"

"If we get trapped in here with those things, we're dead," I answered quickly, gesturing with my arms, "Give Bane and Blue some room at the cargo door; we've got to make a hole before they do!"

Suit lights flashed in the half-darkness of the hold as everyone rearranged to allow the hydralisk access to the jammed rear door when the hatch to the pilots compartment practically fell off its hinges. Immediately, a zergling tried to leap through the thresh-hold and was momentarily halted by its gangly limbs. I drew my gauss pistols and T.J. joined me with his rifle, pelting the thrashing creature with slugs until it fell back outside. My clips ran dry and T.J. fired on alone as another Zerg instantly took its brethren's place.

"_This is it!_" I hollered over the thundering gunfire, "Break for the Protoss lines! Nobody stops for anything!"

The Consolation shuddered around us as Bane forced the cargo door open with a screech of grinding steel. San'Dreale activated his warp blade with a crackling blue light and Mich fed a new clip into his rifle.

It was a poor defense against what wait outside. It would be a miracle if we managed to make ten yards from the ship. Yet, when Bane crushed the doors aside, there was no flood of alien scythes.

Dozens of zealot warriors battled with their very lives to hold back the tide of ravenous zerg. As we watched, scores of zerglings leapt over the line to get a chance at our crippled dropship, only to be met by second regime of defenders that formed a half ring around the cargo door. Then, before we could see more, a towering Protoss in armor emblazoned with the symbols of Auir stepped into view and shook my mind with the strength of its telepathic voice.

"_COME WITH US!_"

I was counting on the Protoss to give us some level of protection from the Zerg, but I did not expect them to come to our aid outright like they did. The moment we were hauled away from the Consolation, the lines there fell back, abandoning her to the zerglings. It was then an endless shoving match as we were literally pushed by stone-faced warriors and rushing machines until we were brought to a tall triangular structure.

The ongoing battle against the Zerg was still well in ear-shot over the rise, but its sound vanished completely beyond the open threshold of the Nexus as if held back by an unseen force. Inside, the building was surprisingly elaborate; built with columns and stone floors in reminiscence of the old design of the Khala. There were two corridors on either side just past the entrance, but our zealot escorts lead us straight through to a large open chamber with high ceilings.

We came forward, to the head of the large, rounded room where a long half-circle podium held a little over a dozen Protoss. Most of them appeared to be Templar from the Light and Dark caste, and all apparently waited just for us.

San'Dreale bowed deeply when he noticed the occupants of the chamber with a start. The rest of us were clueless to the identity of these aliens until one of them stood up. _It was Rakeem._

In brief, it was explained that nearly half of all Shakuras denizens were held in check by Dramier's cruel mind. They saw, through his own eyes and those of his fleet, how we destroyed the malevolent Archon and inadvertently brought freedom to the entity's telepathic prisoners. Rakeem, who had been sealed in a stasis chamber for nearly six years, was immediately released and all available reinforcements were warped to our calculated crash zone to secure a safe arrival from the Zerg.

As I stood before the Shakuras High Council with Caryn and Bane at my side and the gang at my back, I saw no discord in the burning eyes of those Protoss. I felt in them only a sense of detached weariness, as if having woken after sleeping far too long. Beyond that haze, I saw something I have only glimpsed occasionally in Rakeem and his students. _It was hope._

It had not been twenty minutes since we were all but dragged away from the turmoil of the front lines and already talk turned to a counterstrike against the Zerg Overmind. One of the Dark Templar that sat towards the center stood to speak and all the others fell silent. This one was cracked with age, older than Rakeem by far, but I could also sense his power was ancient and great; obtained through the centuries. His telepathic words were slow and deliberate.

"Noble friends of Praetor Rakeem, my people owe you heavy debt. However, in this hour of darkness, we have need of your aid once more. Our standing forces have been cut by half in this long struggle against the onslaught of the Zerg; I fear that if we do not strike soon, we will be overrun."

For a moment, this Templar paused as his gaze halted at Bane and I.

"The _psionic call _you used to bring the Zerg against the wayward Dramier...Are you capable of repeating it at will?"

I said nothing at first and glanced sideways at Bane. When the hydalisk answered me with an almost-undetectable nod, I looked back up to the old Protoss,

"We are."

When I replied, a wave of telepathic murmurs traveled around the circular table like the stirring of leaves in a sudden breeze. The eldest Templar held a hand up for silence and addressed the one sitting at his right.

"Executor Artanis, how much time will you require to prepare the necessary fleet?"

This _Artanis_ was obviously younger by half and he spoke with a spirit and energy that blazed like the core of a fire,

"At your command, Patriarch, all available warships and Dark Templar shall be gathered by dimensional recall. My personal fleet of arbitors stand ready."

Once more, the old Templar turned back to us.

"If you are ready, heroes, we must move while there is still a means to strike."

I hesitated and looked over my shoulder at Boss and the guys; they never looked so tired and beaten and I imagined I must look the same. This was not their fight, it never was, yet here they were with me despite all it had cost them.

Caryn looked slightly worse for wear, but her eyes betrayed only uncertainty and fear. By blackmailing me into bringing her along, she had jumped head-first into a situation she did not expect or understand. She didn't belong here anymore than Mich, T.J. or Mosely.

With a heavy sigh, I gave my answer.

"Bane and I will go, but I demand that the rest of my companions be kept safe. They have sacrificed too much already and I will not put them in danger any more."

I could feel the stares boring into the back of my skull, but my friends remained quiet as the old Templar nodded slowly,

"A wise and noble request, young Terran. Consider it so. Make what preparations you and your..._companion_ may require; your transport shall arrive soon."

The moment we were led back outside to await the shuttle, Caryn and the guys let me have it.

"What the hell are you_ thinking_, kid?" Mich hissed, trying to keep his voice down among the Protoss. Caryn didn't seem to care who heard her,

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

I was hardly deterred from my decision by their words; it only strengthened my resolve and it must have shown on my face. A hush quickly fell over them when I failed to reply with some sarcastic backlash. When I did speak, the words felt clear and sobering,

"I'm sorry, everyone, for all I've put you through, but it's time for me to stop running. Bane and I will take care of this one; you guys have done too much already."

"You can't do this alone," Mich tried again, sounding more like his old self than ever.

"It's in the hands of the Protoss now," I countered solemnly, "All we can do is give them a window to attack."

For a long moment, nobody said anything as the constant flow of alien warriors and machines coursed around us, heading out to replace those that were steadily falling at the battle front. Finally, Mosely broke the silence by pulling his last clip from his gauss rifle.

"We ain't gonna talk you out of it, so here; Take my bullets."

As the typically-silent mercenary held the clip out to me, T.J. and Mich followed suit and I reached to take the rounds.

"Thanks, guys. For everything."

Mich waved it off and reached out to shake my free hand.

"Good luck, kid; for all of our sakes."

When T.J. and I shook, he gave the shoulder of my bulky powered armor a slap.

"If there's anybody that can solo _this_ bug job, its you champ."

Mosely and I exchanged only a nod when we were suddenly blasted by a torrent of wind. The shuttle due to carry Bane and I circled once overhead and came to a hasty vertical landing nearby, buffeting us with its thrusters. As the craft's doors opened wide, it suddenly felt as if every Protoss in eyeshot were watching.

Lastly, I looked to Caryn. Her familiar scorn was replaced by worry, fear and something else I couldn't quite place. The idling thrusters of the shuttles seemed to make the only sound as we just stared into each other's eyes for one short, sweet moment. Then, Caryn threw her arms around my neck.

I'm not sure how long we hung that way, but all too soon an alien hand fell on my shoulder and San'Dreale's telepathic voice intruded my mind.

"Reece, time is short."

When Caryn released me from the hug and we held each other at arms length, I was shocked to find her face stained with tears. My heart ached as our hands fell apart; I had no idea she cared about me so much. Ever so softly, her lips breathed a few silent syllables.

"_Please don't..."_

The roar of battle coming over the rise was growing with every passing second; a constant reminder of what we were to face. I could see the fear of it, fear for me, in her pleading eyes. In them, I also saw why I had to strength for us both, I conjured my old, wry grin.

"I still have to save the world, remember?"

She looked away for a moment; at which point I almost expected her to shove me and storm away in another huff, but this time she stayed. When our eyes met again, I saw faith, like the faith I had in Bane. At last, the barest of smiles crossed her lips.

"Then go. Go get em, _hero-boy_."

I took one last look at Mich and the gang, at Caryn, and turned for Bane's shuttle with my C-8 still gripped in my bare hand. All this while, the hydralisk silently stood by and watched the procession unflinchingly, only moving now to follow me up the craft's ramp. When I reached the top, I turned to wave at my friends before the doors could close them from view. There wasn't another time in my life when I wanted them with me more, but stronger than that was the desire to protect them. This was the only way to keep them safe.

As the hatched slammed home and the Protoss engines sang to life, I suddenly realized how Bane must have felt when he was forced to make similar decisions with me. I glanced up at those glowing red lamps and became disgusted with myself as I recalled how I selfishly cursed him for leaving me over those long eight years. When I didn't meet his eyes again, the hydralisk's telepathic voice rumbled into my mind.

"Do not blame yourself, Reece."

I shook my head in attempt to clear my thoughts and methodically began checking the clips that Mosely and the guys gave me. As I worked, more so to keep my mind occupied, I looked up to my alien friend,

"Do you really think we can stop this?"

When the hydralisk responded with a low, solemn growl, it created more questions than it answered.

"If all else fails, only you will have the strength to save all that is from the swarms."

The journey in the shuttle was sickeningly short. It didn't seem like we were airborne for more than an hour when the thrusters began winding down for a landing. The roar of alien combat returned ten-fold when the hatches cracked open; an unwelcome, familiar sound of intermixed roars and screeches, the report of psionic weapons and the whistling rain of hydralisk spikes. San'Dreale was waiting outside, beckoning desperately. However, I came to an involuntary halt halfway down the ramp.

The shuttle had brought us to the spewing mouth of hell itself.

We had landed in a battle-stricken forward base set on a high plateau, overlooking what appeared to be a fathomless, infected wound in the planet's crust. Monstrous, twisted things jutted into the air at random intervals, stretching out of view into a dark haze below. My stomach churned as I realized what they were; nightmarish living structures that swelled and breathed, sustained by an endless purplish mass that blanketed the entire valley and reached up the pass nearly to within range of the Protoss lines.

The ranks of the Zerg emerged from the mists without cease, milling between the immobile mutations of the hive structures or swerving around their tall spires by the swarms. They came fourth in countless waves, drawing together in great streams that reached into the distance in what seemed to be every direction.

It was an infestation the size of a Terran capitol city, and it was taking all the might of Shakuras just to contain it. There was one pass down into the immense crater of a valley, and it was blocked entirely by a small village of cannon defenses and intermingled warriors in constant struggle against a relentless tide of zerglings.

Numbly, I resumed walking and was further amazed by the Protoss entrenchment here. I counted nine separate buildings actively warping in reinforcements for the constant battle and craned my neck to see the ominously floating bulk of four carriers in formation overhead. The defensive lines we saw from the Consolation met this base on one side and continued across the plateau on the other, effectively bottlenecking everything in the vicinity through this single fortified pass.

San'Dreale stood with half a dozen High Templar and a platoon of waiting Dragoons outside our shuttle. As I crossed the ten paces of churned dust to meet them with the hydralisk at my side, I stole one last glance at the grotesque, sprawling organism of the zerg hive clusters. When I did, a miraculous clearance in the distant mists made the breath stop in my throat.

Like a pulsating, shadowy mountain ringed with clouds of winged monsters, the Overmind itself was momentarily visible before fading again in the eerie fog.

"_Entaro Tassadar_, heroes! It seems our arrival was most timely!"

San'Dreale's telepathic voice boomed into my mind as Bane and I stopped before the waiting procession of Protoss soldiers and machines. Once again, it suddenly felt like all idle eyes were on us. I still had my visor open, despite the abrasive atmospheric cocktail of Shakuras, and I practically had to yell to overcome the ever-present static of battle.

"So what's the plan?"

Lacking the need to speak over the noise, San'Dreale retained his composure as he gave a brief explanation.

"When our remaining reinforcements arrive via warp matrix, all will be ready."

The templar paused briefly as he nodded at Bane,

"Then the time will come to issue the cerebrate's psionic call. To ensure we draw every possible defender away from the Overmind, these members of the Templar caste will attempt to amplify your telepathic signature, Bane."

My alien friend and the High Templar group exchanged a silent glance before San'Dreale continued.

"Once we have the greater bulk of the Zerg _occupied_, the Dark Templar fleet under command of executor Artanis will warp to the Overmind's location. Adun willing, they shall bring an end to the vile abomination before its minions overwhelm us all in their blind frenzy."

I thought about this strategy a moment and a question came to me.

"Even without the Overmind, what about the swarms themselves?"

Once again, San'Dreale gestured to the hydralisk with his eyes.

"To the extent of our knowledge, victory today would make Bane the sole surviving cerebrate and heir to the broods."

I was visibly taken back; it felt like someone had hit me in the face with a bucket of ice-water. After a momentary delay, my mind absorbed this statement and I turned to my friend.

"Is that true, Bane?"

The hydralisk's long growl seemed more like a sigh in my ears before the beast's burning eyes met mine.

"With exception to a means of ending their carnage, sovereignty over my brethren holds little more value than dust to me, Mortal. But yes, that outcome is possible."

As I looked again at the river of carapace and claws flowing up the pass, I was stunned that such destructive power could be wielded by one being, namely an ill-tempered alien that happened to be my best friend. Although Bane was not one to be provoked, I knew he would never use the swarms unjustly. It would finally be an end to the interplanetary Zerg threat; an end to the slaughter.

A series of shifting, blue lights suddenly caught my attention and I turned, as did Bane and the nearby Protoss, when the rest of our reinforcements arrived on the scene. It took only a moment for the shape warriors and machines to appear. More High Templar and Zealots, a dozen Dragoons with Reaver support and a complete wing of hovering Corsairs appeared to compliment the defenders already deployed at the pass. An entire second alien army had emerged from the shimmering wall of psionic energy, more than doubling the standing forces on the plateau.

"..._Incredible_..." I mumbled as I craned my neck to watch the Corsairs move into position over the cannon defenses. With the new arrivals on foot marching around us, I looked back to Bane.

"Do you think it will be enough?"

The hydralisk stared out over our lines toward the hive clusters in the distance before answering.

"It will buy time. We can only hope it is enough."

San'Dreale stepped away from the squad of High Templar and joined Bane and I with a quick word,

"Our available aerial fleets have been cut by half. Dramier took the majority of the squadron with him in orbit, including the last known Mothership. The remainder of our forces are gathered for the assault on the Overmind itself."

Our personal army of Zealots stood at the ready and their Dragoon counterparts formed a half ring between us and the cannon defenses. Behind them, most of the High Templar omnisciently floated in place, watching the swarms and waiting. The other four drifted into a circle around Bane and I, making the air fairly hum with psionic energy. Then finally, the five cumbersome Reavers finished the long crawl to their places among the Templar.

"All is ready," San'Dreale proclaimed quietly, "The attack will begin on your mark, Cerebrate."

"Very well," Bane growled in simple response.

Rakeem's old pupil hesitated once more before stepping down to join the Templar.

"If the coming battle should claim either of us, allow me to say now what an honor it has been to fight at your side, _heroes_."

The hydralisk responded with a nod and I with a smile, then San'Dreale bowed graciously and moved to join his brethren.

My heart felt as if it were suddenly trying to hammer its way through my ribs and the C-10 felt ungainly as a sack of bricks in my hands. If it wasn't for the CMC combat suit I still wore, I could have sworn that everyone present could see my knees shaking. When the eerie calm of Bane's mind touched mine, I mentally clung to it like a drowning man to a buoy.

"Listen carefully, Mortal," the hydralisk's telepathic words echoed into my thoughts alone, "It is beyond my power to draw so deeply on the Overmind's hatred and yet keep my will from its wrath. Only you the strength keep me from such influence. Do you understand, Reece?"

My throat had long since gone bone dry and I found it difficult to swallow as I replied with my mind's voice.

"I'm ready when you are."

My senses wavered briefly and went totally numb when I opened my thoughts to Bane, as I had a dozen times before as a novelty and in need. Only now, the pull was stronger than it had ever been; the sound of the broods turned to the faintest whisper in my ears and the terrible view of them faded to black in my eyes. I could no longer feel my own panicking lungs heaving with the inadequate air of Shakuras. For the breadth of a heartbeat, all turned fathomlessly dark and silent.

When our minds met, they interlocked like a brilliant alloy of iron and living fire and the world returned three-fold. Even without seeing it, I was aware of the frothing battle at the pass in every motion and detail, of every stir of a foot among the warriors still waiting to fight before us. Petty things like fear and doubt, pain and exhaustion were cast aside as a shadowy memory. There was only this battle, and what we must do.

Like a hell-sung hymn, the Templar took up the ghostly psionic call as Bane dropped his mental defenses against the roaring inferno of the Overmind's fury. It came rushing in as a vicious, boiling flood of purest malice and hit our intertwined minds like the blast of an explosion. Only vaguely, I recall collapsing to one knee as the Protoss structures flickered and fell dark.

With simultaneous eruptions of snapping, blue energy, the nearest pylons suddenly exploded in the wake of the telepathic shockwave that issued forth. Like a million mirrors, I could sense the swarms reflecting the Overmind's rage as the insatiable call overwhelmed them.

The cannon defenses sprang to life again when the power returned and the river of oncoming zerglings instantly became a flood. Like a voice echoing from a great distance, San'Dreale thundered _For Shakuras_ and the entire valley of Zerg turned inward on itself. The organization of the separate legions and swarms utterly dissolved as every last member of the brood abandoned all purpose save for one thing.

The bottleneck of the valley pass seemed as small a set of iron sights before the rearing, primal might of the swarm. The very ground quaked with the pounding of countless claws and clouds of red wings blotted out the heavens.

And still, the Overmind's fury grew stronger. It ripped and lashed at our interlocked minds with the crushing weight of eons. I could sense it searching ruthlessly, tearing for an opening to rend us apart. It was like no pain or power I had ever felt. As it took more and more of our combined strength to hold fast against the overwhelming consciousness, Bane's senses began fading as well. With them went all awareness of the world around me.

We were plunged into a suffocating darkness that went ever deeper. All my simple human fears and regrets came unlocked, returning to burn me alive. Voices howled into my thoughts, malevolent and snarling, screaming at me to let go. I began struggling to keep them apart from my own thoughts as they mocked me and defiled me in voices from my memory; with Caryn's voice, with Mich's and Bane's. Even my own.

I could feel my friend's mental grip fading. Our golden meld of iron and fire was fissuring beneath the immeasurable fury of the Overmind. The voices roared in anger and desperation when it felt the connection slipping, doubling the telepathic assault to finally tear us asunder.

Slowly, _painfully_, I pushed back against the grinding power of the Overmind's will. Dredging the last reserves of energy from the stump of my mind, I clung to memories of simple, familiar things like the view of the sun setting over the Hiemdall Sea and the smell of Miss Maggie's diner in the morning. I thought of T.J.'s worn-out laugh and the taste of cheap liquor, of Mich's verbal scolding sessions and the hum of the Consolation's controls in my hands.

I remembered the first time I saw Caryn smile and how it felt to have my best friend back.

We spiraled further and further into the smothering darkness. When at last the Overmind had swallowed all else, the only thing I had left was Bane. The hellish nightmare became a whirlwind of frustration and madness around us; I could feel the final barriers of my will breaking down at last. What awaited me was a fate worse than death. So entangled was the telepathic double helix of our minds that if Bane fell to the Zerg, so would I.

It all unexpectedly ended when the mountainous strength of the Overmind's will shattered like an immense crystalline mirror. The roaring fury of its many voices splintered, fading individually into silence just before the presence of Bane's mind slipped from mine like water through my fingers. Then, something hit me like a wall.

My ears rang mercilessly and I could taste blood in my mouth again. Gradually, I became aware of the feeling of the CMC combat armor around my body and the blurry image of rock six inches in front of my face. Despite the monumental effort required, I brought my hands forward and pushed my chest off the ground.

As if I had been near an explosion, the ringing in my head gradually died out as I fought my way to one knee. The first thing that my numb brain registered was a deathly silence. My own panting seemed obnoxiously loud in my ears as I looked up to Bane.

The hydralisk was slumped forward on both scythes, as if something unseen weighed heavily upon him.

"Bane?" I gasped between breaths, "Are you okay?"

If he heard me, he didn't show it. I couldn't feel the presence of my friend's mind at all and he remained as still as a stone.

With fingers that cracked, I picked up my C-10 and had to summon the energy to stand. I never felt so drained in my life. My vision finally focused as the whining servos of my powered suit all but propped me upright. What I saw left me dumbstruck.

The Zerg were stopped. _Literally_. Hundreds, _thousands_ of them filled the pass, cliff to cliff, from the valley floor all the way up to what remained of the photon cannons. A thunder-head of pumping red wings hovered lazily overhead; some so low that I could have hit them with my canister launcher.

It was as if the entire swarm had lumbered to a halt in mid-battle. The cannon defenses were all but destroyed, remaining only as a few burning humps scattered among the stunned Protoss. The plateau was scorched black from psionic lightning and stained blue and purple from the blood of fierce combat. Roughly half the original Zealots remained. I spied San'Dreale dragging one of his maimed brethren from beneath the motionless claws of six zerglings who were, moments ago, undoubtedly about to rip the warrior apart.

The air defenses were hit the hardest. My quick count tallied two smoldering carriers and a scarce handful of surviving corsairs. Most of the dragoons were smashed and lay burning where they faltered in the onslaught of gluave wurms. Only the Templar were relatively unscathed, having stayed behind the lines with Bane and I until the very last.

We couldn't have been mere moments from being run over by the furious swarm when they stopped. However, the most peculiar detail about the scene by far was the light.

The valley walls, the pass and even the reeling Protoss defenders before me were utterly bathed in an unearthly red glow. Like an unblinking ocean of crimson lamps, the countless Zerg stared back at us with bright, burning eyes. _Bane's eyes._

With an sudden, sharp snarl that echoed over the silent pass, the hydralisk at my side finally moved.

"Bane!" I exclaimed as I turned around to face my friend, "We-"

The words fell flat in my throat; something was wrong with my friend. The beast was trembling and drawing inward, dragging two troughs through the dirt as he convulsively pulled both scythes in.

"Bane?" I said again, taking a step closer, "What's wrong? Talk to me!"

The hydralisk released only a strained growl and hammered one closed scythe-joint against the gravelly earth, as if he was still fighting something deep inside himself. I slid the C-8 over my shoulder and let it hang from the sling as I reached one hand out towards my friend.

With speed I didn't know he possessed, Bane lashed out laterally with the flat edge of one blade. It hit me in the shoulder and plowed me off my feet so quickly that I hadn't fully realized what just happened until I finished sliding to a halt on my back. If it wasn't for the armored suit, the blow would have broken my arm.

In that moment, the swarms erupted around us in a living bomb of fury and wrath.

All at once, the Zerg filling the pass surged forward again and the mutalisks swerved from their idle positions. Only a few seconds slow, our crippled Protoss defense reacted in kind. Sheets of psionic lightning crashed into being, forming a lashing, angry barrier over the mouth of the pass and clogging the airspace overhead. Despite the consuming storm of psionic power, zerglings still raced through, some of them on fire as they met the courageous zealots in a stampede.

Gone was their blind fury, replaced now by an individual cunning and skill that I had rarely witnessed. Hydralisks were strangely absent, but the zerglings in combat with the Zealots parried and dodged attacks, with many striking back as one and all from different directions. As combat space became scarce, the zerglings in the back slid almost to a stop before springing forward in arching leaps over the entire line. Any hope of maintaining a bottle-neck was lost.

In seconds, every warrior and remaining machine was outnumbered, no matter where they stood in the lines. Only the blast of an occasional reaver's scarab offered any reprieve to the first-born defenders, but still they were falling, screaming in telepathic shame and agony as the limitless flow of efficient, methodical monsters cut them down and pressed forward. I knew fighting like this, and I knew only one creature capable of it.

"_Stop!" _I yelled desperately as I pushed to my feet again, "Bane, you have to stop this!_"_

My friend was standing upright now, omnisciently staring out over the closing maw of destruction as if told to keep witness. Twin flashes of blue light came from above and I looked up to see the carriers falling, drifting down to the ridges of the pass. As the immense, burning hulks sank to a fiery landing beneath the continued bombardment of the churning mutalisks, the ground began quaking violently under my boots.

Wide cracks snaked across the plateau as I tried to stumble my way back to Bane. An incredible crash of splintering rock rang out and the very ground heaved up beneath me. I fell over backwards, landing on my side with just enough sense to roll out of the way of the stone slab I was standing on seconds ago.

A huge, armored worm the size of a bus burst free of the ground, peeling aside layers of rock as it emerged like a runaway tunnel boring machine. Launching a plume of dirt and rocks into the air, the thing bellowed with a blood-curdling roar and slumped forward before Bane with enough force to shake the ground. That is when the hydralisks arrived and the one-sided battle ended swiftly.

I was helpless to do anything but watch in horror as the giant worm opened its gapping, razor-edged maw, unleashing a steady stream of ten-foot killing machines. The fading screen of psionic lightning protecting the pass dissolved as the hydralisks closed on the High Templar from behind with a sheet of deadly barbed spikes. They were mercilessly mowed down as they tried to retreat, some of them collapsing to the dirt with mortal wounds while others vanished outright in short columns of blue mist. The zerglings yielded to the powerful beasts as they met the zealots in combat, finishing the exhausted warriors with crushing blows.

I squeezed my eyes shut tight as I pushed to my knees; I just couldn't watch any longer. These Protoss were all fighting and dying because of me; because they believed in me, and trusted Bane, and there was nothing I could do to help them. Their telepathic screams in those few seconds haunted my mind long after the battlefield fell eerily silent.

When at last, the only thing I could hear was the pounding of my own heart, I opened my eyes and looked around. The Zerg were the only things left standing; staring back at me like an audience of red lights. Slain Protoss and trampled machines were everywhere, but there was no sign of San'Dreale. A thick haze of black smoke hung low over the torn plateau.

Why, I thought in a mixed state of numb nausea , was I allowed to live while everyone else perished?

My heart skipped a beat as an unmistakable feeling of deja vu washed over me. I had seen this before, in my dreams. Bane was in the same place, to my right and slightly in front and we stood in the same living colosseum of Zerg. Every detail was there, even the feeling of paralysis as I got up on wobbly legs. Then, as if the twisted figure had stepped straight from that nightmare, _she_ came.

All the Zerg, including Bane, seemed to turn and watch as something new emerged from the drooling maw of the nydas worm. A chill ran down my spine as I watched the crooked, skeletal wings approaching over the heads of the Zerg. They parted for her, stepping back and slithering aside as she approached.

It was the malevolent entity, the evil heart of my childhood nightmares in living flesh.

Kerrigan was taller than me by at least a foot, even with the added height of my armored suit. Rigid carapace plates partially covered her mutated body like some sort of freakish fashion design, set in leathery skin that was a pale, ghastly shade of yellow-green. Oozing blades protruded from every joint, even the ends of her fingers, and her hair was replaced with thick, black tendrils that protruded like mutated growths from her filthy scalp. She smiled sadistically, her teeth showing as curved fangs and a sickeningly sweet look of satisfaction was set on her puss-colored face.

I had the sudden urge to pull the C-8 from my shoulder and let her have a face full of grenade, but she locked eyes with me the moment the thought entered my brain. I was no telepath, at best I could garner bits of insight by eavesdropping on my best friend. However, I did not need Bane's help to sense the wicked psionic strength behind those glowering yellow eyes. I knew then that my hand wouldn't even reach the stock before she killed me on the spot. She saw that I knew, and her wretched grin returned.

Bane still did not move, watching her approach until she practically strolled to a halt ten feet away. When her jagged fangs parted and she spoke, the sadistic tone rang in both my ears and my mind.

"You have done well, _my pet._"

To my horror, the hydralisk at my side actually acknowledged her with a low growl. It was then that I realized what had happened; this was Kerrigan's plan all along. Bane had no more control over himself than I did over the situation laid before me. The death of all those Protoss was _her_ doing.

Speaking of my own will seemed to take an incredible effort, but the words finally burst forth as she began striding closer with all the grace of a runway model.

"What have you done to Bane? Let him go!"

Kerrigan stopped before Bane and reached one clawed hand up to scratch the hydralisk under the jaws with her curled fingers. At first, she replied without looking at me.

"This creature is _my_ creation. It is _my_ design. It bends to my whim alone. It _appeared_ to care for you and your miserable race because _I _allowed it."

Her voice rose in pitch and strength, but quickly stepped back to its previous, malevolent tone as she let her hand drop slowly

"The fool Rakeem was not entirely misguided. He saw in this creature a means of ending the wretched Overmind once and for all. And that was true. However, Bane suffered from the same fault against the Hive Mind as did I. Neither of us can resist the full wrath of its will."

Kerrigan began stepping towards me, and I suddenly found myself powerless to move away, powerless to speak against her. It was akin to standing against Dramier's maelstrom.

"Which brings us, at last, to _you_. I have waited in the shadow of that damnable abomination since long before you drew breath, a prisoner of in my own mind. Yet, an insect such as you was able to bring pause to the beast's influence..."

Her yellow, almost cat-like eyes narrowed to slits as she stopped in front of me. With all the speed of an arrow leaping from a bow, her gnarled hand shot out, through the open faceplate of my helmet, and slapped closed around my throat before I had even comprehended movement.

I reflexively grabbed at her rock-like forearm with my armored hand when she released her hold on my mind, but she promptly hefted me into the air as if the bulk of my combat suit were no heavier than a trinket.

Spots instantly formed in my vision with the weight of the powered suit hanging on my neck and Kerrigan's livid voice hissed like acid as she shook me by the throat.

"What makes an insignificant worm like _you_ capable of such strength?"

Struggling to maintain my grip on her wrist, I forced the only answer I had through my pinched throat.

"Because..." I wheezed honestly, "_...He's my friend!_"

I was on the brink of passing out when Kerrigan growled in exasperation and shoved me back. The strap to my canister launcher snapped and the weapon skittered away when I hit the rock on my side. My vision briefly doubled as I watched the Queen of blades turn and walk away from me, her skeletal wings twitching in irritation.

"Your _friend?_" she scoffed viciously, "I will show you what you have chosen as _your friend._"

Kerrigan strolled to a stop in front of Bane and wormed her way under his arms so that she was facing me with the blades hanging over her shoulders.

"Bane, _my pet_," she said in a tone of near boredom, "Before we return to the hive and scour this blasted world of life, I need to learn something about _your friend_."

Panting for air, I sat up as Kerrigan paused to grin at me once more.

"_You may kill this one now._ But do be gentle; I need his brain intact."

"You'll regret..." I choked, finally able to speak again, "...not killing me yourself."

The Queen of Blades folded her arms over her chest and watched while the imposing form of the hydralisk moved around her and immediately started closing the gap to me. Doggedly, I climbed to my feet again as Bane approached with both scythes poised to strike. I knew my old friend was still there, trapped in a prison of his own body as Kerrigan was trapped by the Overmind. He could still stop this; I still believed in my friend.

_Only you have the strength to keep me from such influence._

Bane's words echoed fresh in my memory as I shot a glance at my canister rifle and drew a gauss pistol from its locking holster at my hip. I could no more win against the hydralisk than I could kill Kerrigan, but I wouldn't have to. I saw then what I needed to do. It was the last hope for all on Shakuras and all those yet in the path of the Zerg. It was the last hope for my friend.

I had to free Bane.

With a monstrous roar that made the hair stand on my neck, the hydralisk suddenly lunged forward, both scythes outstretched to rend me in half. Only a split-second slow to react, I rolled forward, under Bane's arms. The blades whistled over my head so close that they took a layer of paint off my helmet and threw me off balance when I rolled back to one knee next to my canister rifle.

I fought the urge to look away and jammed the trigger on one gauss pistol while dropping the other to reach for the C-8. The light rounds shattered and ricocheted off the beast's exoskeleton as it spun around to charge at me again.

"Bane! _Stop!_" I yelled desperately instead of firing a grenade from the hip, but the hydralisk ignored my voice. I jammed the stimulant injectors on my powered suit and leapt to my feet just when Bane reached me with a series of vicious swings.

Even with the artificial adrenaline surge of the stim-packs, each attack was closer and closer to disemboweling me. This was nothing like fighting him in the belly of a merchant ship; there were no tactical advantages to that unforgiving rock, no place to take cover. Out of reflex, I fired the canister launcher before the last swing could cleave into my torso.

The resulting blast was immediate and devastating, scorching the exposed skin of my face and hand as the fireball launched me over backwards. If it wasn't for the combat armor, I would have been dead from shrapnel alone before I hit the ground.

My ears were ringing and my bad ribs felt like they had been broken again, but Bane was hardly phased by the explosion. He emerged from the smoke and flame with both scythes brought high over his head. I narrowly avoided being crushed by rolling to one side and back to my feet. However, the hydralisk seemed ready for this and brought its left scythe around in a brutal back-swing that narrowly missed my chest and obliterated the canister launcher in my hand.

I tried to reach for my second gauss pistol before Bane turned with the other blade, but I was just too tired. _Too slow_.

I recall the harsh screech of the scythe piercing the chest of my armor like an immense saber and a brief, white-hot pain in my stomach, but then it passed as if someone flicked a switch. All that remained was a rising tide of blood in my mouth and the peculiar sensation of the sickle protruding through the middle of my spine.

My legs instantly failed me and the hydralisk took my weight by the scythe in my chest, snarling malevolently as it pulled me in to lop my head off with the other blade. Even as the spiky, black tendrils of death crawled from the edges of my vision and Kerrigan's maniacal laughter rang in my ears, _I still believed in him._

As if of its own accord, my trembling right arm rose up when the hydralisk's armored face drew near. It took all the strength I had left to uncurl my hand and rest my bare palm on Bane's skull between his eyes. One last time, I called out to my friend with my mind and my heart; with my very soul.

"..._Bane_..."

I shut my eyes as the hydralisk's left scythe cleaved the air and the sound of parting metal and shattering neo glass assaulted my ears. However, I never felt the icy blade reach my neck.

It became a strain just to open my eyes again, but when I did, a bloody smile painstakingly crossed my lips. Bane's scythe was stopped short, only partially buried in the steely neck of my powered suit.

Ever so slowly, the familiar, eerie calm returned to my numb brain and I could sense Bane's mental presence again for the first time since our struggle against the Overmind. He was suddenly all around me, radiating like heat from the surrounding brood. Then, the blazing lamps of his eyes snapped wide open with the onset of full consciousness.

The strength drained from my arm and it slid back to my side as my senses began to blend with those of the hydralisk. I could see my friend again, and he was shaken to the very core by what he had awoken to. I saw a frantic maelstrom of confusion and fear spinning over a plummeting ocean of guilt. The anguish I felt building in him was beyond the capacity for any words. So, I spoke first.

"...I-it's alright, Bane...it's going to be alright..."

My voice couldn't have been more than a breath with syllables, but my friend understood perfectly across our restored mental link.

"No...No! NO!" Bane's telepathic voice actually cracked in my mind, "_Not like this!_"

Time seemed to drag down to a crawl in my eyes as I mustered an attempt to comfort him.

"...Please, Bane...I need you to be strong for me right now...it...it wasn't your fault..."

The hydralisk tried to speak, but the words fell short before they could even form images in my thoughts. I silently wished for more time, time to help him sort it out, but I could already feel everything slipping from my grasp. With all my being, I pushed back against the comforting, sucking pull of darkness.

"...Please...don't blame yourself...You came back, you saved me...so many times."

A searing grief spilled over the mental link as a convulsion shook my body, but I continued through it with my mind's voice.

"...You saved me...in more ways than you'll ever know...And you're going to do it again...you can stop her."

At last, my friend was able to form a single, almost inaudible reply.

"_How?_"

"_Two minutes_," I attempted to lie for Bane's sake; I knew I would be lucky to last more than one.

"...I can give you...two minutes from her influence...I...I need you to finish this one for me."

I could sense hesitation in my friend, he knew withdrawing his scythe would only cause more damage. However, I pushed that aside as well, gathering the will for one last sarcasm.

"...It's okay, Bane...I think my spine is severed...I can't feel a damned thing..."

As my own vision began fading, finally giving in to those jagged black tendrils, I clung to the last bitter-sweet image of those fiery red eyes. Their crimson glow seemed to be coming from all directions. For the final time, I reached out to those burning lamps, to my friend,

"...Remember...what I told you about...what it means to be free..."

Vaguely, I recall grinning again as Kerrigan's distant laughter abruptly halted in my ears.

"And please...take care of Caryn for me...Will you Bud?"

Kerrigan's psychotic laughter trailed to a stop as the silent broods suddenly began moving from their idle watching positions. The great mass of them slowly closed in, forming a ring of carapace and blades around the three combatants in the center. Mutalisks drifted down from the air, settling to watch on the rises of the pass. Nearly twenty zerglings approached the lone hydralisk, offering up the blunt edges of scythes and claws to take the weight of its friend.

The Queen of Blades was outraged; her shrill, demonic voice lashed the still air as she flung her will forth like a whip,

"What are you doing? _I command you to kill him! _NOW!"

Kerrigan actually staggered as the diamond chain of her will was hurled back at her mind like discarded garbage. Her cerebrate, _her creation_, was blatantly ignoring her whim. Psionic power crackled about her as she broke her stance with an inhuman snarl and began striding towards the insubordinate beast.

Slowly, Bane withdrew his scythe as his zergling counterparts lowered the body gently to the rock. Kerrigan was nearly halfway there when her pet finally turned to face her with blood soaking one blade. The Zerg, a blazing ocean of angry, crimson eyes, turned to face her as well, bringing pause to her in mid-step. The blind could have seen the absolute fury welling up beneath those eyes. It grew and grew, pressing on Kerrigan's mind like the boiling wrath of star until it erupted into physical being around her in an explosion of molten rage and pure sorrow.

All as one, the roaring timbre of the swarm joined together, shaking the very crust of the planet in furious thunder heard by terrified Protoss defenders for hundreds of miles. Only now, at the end of her arrogant reign, Kerrigan, the infamous Queen of Blades, knew true fear.

To Be Continued...


	21. Bane 21: Hero's Charge

Bane 21: Hero's Charge

It was early in the brisk morning, still dark but drawing near the first pinks of another preemptive sunrise. The air off the glassy Hiemdall Sea held a slight chill, a familiar precursor to the lazy onset of the Fall season. They were a peculiar thing, the shift of the seasons, to one so unaccustomed to the leisure of noting them. It was akin to watching the slow, circular motion of a single dial when one has always seen the entire spinning clockwork of the galaxy as a whole. Bane knew the number by memory, but he counted them again. Eight. Eight of these cycles had passed since that day on Shakuras.

Sorrow was not a thing of the Zerg. In all their countless millennia of existence, of struggle and evolution, the collective experience of the Second-Borne had never known such a burden. It was a terrible, alien pain that went beyond the body, and somehow, beyond the mind. Like an eternal fire, it scarred the spirit with a wound that refused to heal.

The pain of that day was still with him; time had done little to dull its edge. For eight years, it cut into him like a searing blade without mercy. Even now, as Bane awaited the beginning of another day in the trembling body of a sitting zergling, it took all his strength to keep from pounding and rending the earth until his scythes turned dull.

He still blamed himself. Caryn still blamed him. Through the brethren he had hidden there, Bane could sense her slumbering mind in the salt-worn abode among the trees. There wasn't another Terran presence for thirty miles aside from those in the cement dwelling. Though she forbade him and cursed his name, Bane would never abandon his charge to protect her. He would never forget Reece's words.

_Just be a friend._

After that day, the Terrans Mich, T.J. and Mosely wished, in so many harsh words, that Bane never see them again. Caryn was practically unapproachable. The Protoss were respectful, if only because the sole remaining cerebrate had suddenly inherited control of the innumerable swarms, but neither would they tolerate his continued presence on their planet.

It was then that Bane suffered an entirely new cruelty of sentient life. Being alone was once something familiar; simple and almost comforting. Then more than ever, Bane felt the desire for another voice, for the company of...a friend. The cold, draining isolation coupled with his grief in a wrenching, relentless hurt matched by no bullet or blade. Many times over the course of those first months, it took all Bane's will not to end it; to gather every single member of the brood, down to the last squirming larvae, and hurl every possible facet of his existence into the fiery heart of a star in order to make the pain stop.

Bane was losing this battle within himself. He would have lost long ago, if it were not for a miracle still beyond his comprehension. Bane owed his life to Amber.

The zergling snapped from its uneasy meditation with the touch of the mental link. Time was growing short; she was already beginning to stir from her slumber. Bane would have to move quickly if he wasn't to keep her waiting. To sense disappointment in Amber was more than he could bear.

From the eyes of the descending mutalisk, Bane could see his own zergling form standing on the cliff's edge. With the barest of mental effort, it became his own wings opening to the passing air, bleeding off speed against the wind while the mutalisk drifted alongside the rocky ledge. As if it was an extension of his claw, the zergling leaped lightly out into open space and fell the short distance to the Mutalisk's back as it passed below. Then the cerebrate climbed skyward again, heading South toward the FarSide diner. Amber's ambition for speed and thrill were seemingly insatiable; he would need the energy of a good meal.

As the Hiemdall sea and the shoreline rolled beneath him, the Farside Diner came into view. To the astonishment of Bane and everyone else, Miss Maggie was actually sympathetic. Sympathy was among the last things the cerebrate wanted. However, Maggie said only small reassurances and simple apologies–something Reece would have done–so Bane allowed himself to find in these a bit of comfort for the guilty. Although it wasn't always that way.

It took several months before the cerebrate could gather ample courage to show himself at the diner again. Naturally, Mich and the gang had been there before during this time and it wasn't at all unexpected when Maggie met him at the back door with her plasma rifle. In the back of Bane's mind, he welcomed the vengeance. He considered it well-deserved if the large woman evaporated him on sight. Bane only stood waiting, with his companion misery, for the scolding death

She stood opposite to him, unmoving and bristling with wrath behind the sights of her exotic weapon. However, Maggie was a creature deprived from the use of her eyes. Unlike any other Terran Bane knew, she saw with the mind instead. Shame would not let the Cerebrate meet her gaze, so it was unexpected when he heard Maggie drop the rifle as if the metal had spontaneously heated in her hands. Still, Bane did not look up. He asked her, pleaded for her to pick the weapon back up and destroy him for all the good it would do. He would try anything to ease the pain.

When Bane met her eyes at last, he was actually shocked by what he found. Miss Maggie was trembling; totally overcome with emotion. Whatever she found in the open wound of his mind had visibly shaken the woman and her face became wet, dripping with tears. As the cerebrate himself had been, she was beyond words, and Bane had to react on instinct alone to catch the large Terran as her knees suddenly buckled.

Even now, while Bane gradually gnawed at his steak-stack breakfast on the back stoop of the diner, Maggie was there with him and she was having difficulty keeping her composure.

"Forget what you saw," the zergling growled almost inaudibly as he looked briefly from his meal, "Such a thing is not your burden to carry. It would be better if you despised me, like the others."

Maggie didn't reply at first. Aside from the barest tightening of her lips, the woman hardly flinched from her place at the cerebrate's side. After a long pause, she finally spoke.

"...Ya still blame yerself."

It wasn't quite a question, but neither was it entirely meant as a statement. Bane stopped eating for nearly a full minute while he stared out over Hiemdall's vast ocean, ablaze now with the sunrise full on the water.

"I shall always blame myself."

For a time, they were both silent while Bane finished his meal. There was little that could be said on the former subject that hadn't already been brought up before. The zergling plucked the last piece of steak off its plate and hastily proceeded to lick its claws clean. In the past, Maggie would ask that Bane repay his meal by offering her a few minutes of his vision, but to do so now would also be to touch the cerebrate's mind again. Maggie gathered her strength with a long sigh and finally spoke.

"That child be growin' up too quick," she said, trying her hand at more casual conversation. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. "You be careful wit' her today. She's got da ambition of a girl twice 'er age."

This time, it worked. Like a brief jet of hot water in cold, the shadow of the cerebrate's mind shimmered with wry humor.

"That much only serves to understate her courage," the zergling snorted, tossing its head back, "And fails all justice for the mortal's stubbornness."

For the first time that morning, that week, the zergling met Maggie's eyes before it added solemnly, "...Reminds me of another I once knew."

Maggie was broken between a smile and a frown; neither seemed appropriate. Again, she nobly attempted to sway the direction of the talk.

"Speakin' of stubborn, how's dat motha of hers farin'?"

Once again, Bane looked away as he sat back on his haunches like a dog. The Hiemdall suns were both fully clear of the horizon now, casting a sideways glare that illuminated the opposite half of the zergling and left its visible side veiled in shadow. In that shadow, the fiery glow of its eyes burned hot.

"I do not speak with her often, and neither she with I. Caryn greatly disapproves of Amber's time with me, but her attempts to dissuade the child have proven more fruitless than my own. I find myself sundered between them. It is against my charge to disobey Caryn's whim, yet it is also wrong to hurt Amber."

At last, Miss Maggie grinned.

"You betta git goin' if ya not to be late," she offered an encouraging smile as she stood up and wiped her puffy hands on her apron, "Ya know that child expects you."

"Indeed," Bane replied with a renewed sense of duty, his crimson eyes glowing a shade brighter with the thought, "You have my gratitude for the meal; I shall have need of it."

With practiced awkwardness, the zergling reached down and clutched the edge of the plate between three claws and lifted the slimy ceramic disc to Maggie's waiting hands.

"Anytime, precious," the large woman dismissed the statement with a wave of the plate, "You git goin' now."

The zergling took a last glance at Maggie before turning and trotting away towards the cliff's edge a short distance behind the diner. The same mutalisk that carried him there was already passing by below, offering a split-second window to drop onto its back at the right moment. Without the slightest hesitation, Bane charged straight to the edge and dove into open space above the Hiemdall Sea.

It happened almost a year after that dark day on Shakuras, on a stormy, windswept night forever burned into his memory. Caryn had always harbored discord for him, but she had become increasingly more hostile during those first months, to the extent that Bane could only keep watch on her from the distance on an Overlord's gaze. Then a day came that Caryn took her shuttle and flew to the city. Bane tracked her movement from above, but he was forced to stop when the overlord's began to sense signals from the Terran defenses.

There he waited for nearly two days. On the fall of the second night, the bottom dropped out of the sky in a torrential downpour. The overlord's remained vigilant through the storm and soon Caryn's shuttle was spotted emerging from the hazy bustle of city traffic. Bane followed her back to the bunker, where she immediately retreated from the rain. Caryn had left on errands many times before, but never had she been gone so long. Something about this trip didn't seem normal. Instinctively, Bane tightened his perimeter of loaded overlords around the bunker.

Then as if to confirm the cerebrate's suspicions, Caryn called out to him. If only for a moment, she wanted Bane there.

The cerebrate was nearly at a loss in the situation. What could cause such behavior in Terrans? At first, Bane believed it could only be danger. Carried with all haste by the overlords, Bane raced to the familiar concrete abode with a force of his brethren thirty strong. However, something vastly unexpected made him, and all his brood, stop cold in mid-step. As the ring of zerg hung there in the pouring rain, Bane could sense a contorted mix of pain, grief and...joy?

Caryn called to him a second time, prompting his stunned mind into action. A single zergling separated from the ranks, paced forward through the rain and awkwardly grasped the opening mechanism with one fore-claw. The bolt on the door was not locked and the handle turned easily beneath Bane's claws.

She was there, laying in Reece's bed and wrapped in far too many cloths than should have been necessary in Hiemdall's warm climate. It was then that Bane sensed another presence with her; it was tiny and alien, yet somehow familiar. Perhaps it was her weariness at the time, but Caryn beckoned the cerebrate closer still.

Cradled in her arms was a fleshy, pinkish creature. As Bane slowly drew nearer, he saw that this small, squalling thing was actually Terran–a human infant. It was so small and utterly helpless; the only one of its kind that Bane had known. At first, the cerebrate did not know why Caryn had summoned him to witness such a thing, but her pleading eyes and his own curiosity drew him closer still. Slowly, delicately, Bane reached out to this fragile, mal-developed creature with one fore-claw. Before the zergling could safely withdraw, the infant grasped one of his curled fingers with its tiny hand.

In that instant, Bane knew. He knew even if he did not understand how it could be. The cerebrate was totally, thoroughly taken back; he could no more move an inch than he could break an infant's grip on his claw.

Terrans were among the vast mortal caste. They led brief, fleeting lives and ultimately perished, never to return. And yet, what he saw that day flew square in the face of such logic. Plain and clear as sunlight at noon, he could sense it. Reece, a piece of his friend, was alive in this being.

It was a miracle of mercy beyond Bane's understanding. The simple fact that Caryn did not forbid him outright from seeing the child was perhaps an even greater one at that. And while this priceless time did not completely abate the daily torture of Bane's guilt, nothing ever could, the godsend appearance of Amber did make the cerebrate see its continued existence in a new light. Perhaps, just perhaps, life was yet worth enduring for a while longer. Or, more than likely, as long as it would last before the child managed to kill them both.

"_Faster_, Big Brother! _Run faster!_"

The mossy, rock-laden terrain was a rolling blur beneath the zergling's churning claws, but at his passenger's beckon, he pushed into the leaping strides of his top speed. Following the brief burst of acceleration, Amber squealed in delight and actually released her grip to clap her hands excitedly.

_"Hold on tight or I shall stop!"_ Bane snarled at his squirming, forty-pound payload. When the cerebrate felt the mortal's tiny hands move back to the rim of his skull, he returned encouragement,

"Good! Now lean with me!"

They were rushing up hill, moving at an angle on the incline, when they entered the trees. The girl performed as she was told, dipping to one side of the zergling's flank, over to the other and back again as Bane veered around the gnarly trunks. Ahead, a low cross work of dead branches blocked the path, but Amber didn't have to be told about those. In perfect unison, she hunkered low against the cerebrate's back as Bane put his head down and dug in his heels.

In an explosion of tumbling bark and splintered branches, the pair burst through the underbrush and careened into a shallow streambed. Much to Amber's enjoyment, the zergling flung spray twenty feet around as it trampled through the water and charged up the opposite bank. For a split second, the cerebrate shut his eyes before he entered the trees once more and another racing pair of realities met the mind. With careful precision, he guided them onto an interception course overhead. The run was becoming increasingly steep, but with fewer trees to dodge now, Bane actually gained speed. Already familiar with this route, Amber began kicking her heels into the zergling's flanks, squealing with anticipation.

_"Faster!"_

Bane pushed the limits of his claws, forcing them to greater rates as he charged clear of the trees and raced for the top of the rise at full tilt. Through the eyes of the mutalisks above, Bane could see Amber preparing for her jump.

"Are you ready?" Came the cerebrates telepathic voice as the zergling traced the edge of the sheer cliff. Amber responded by patting the zergling on the neck and Bane offered the creature's blade arms for balance as the girl stood on its back. Just when they reached the cliff's summit, Amber kicked away in a complete forward flip over nothing but thin air. With a feral cry and wings swept back, the mutalisks gliding above dove down the face of the cliff after her.

Bane had only seconds to reach his tiny, falling target before they both dropped into the trees below. Amber briefly fell with her arms spread to the passing air, but she soon turned in place as the mutalisk drew alongside. When the cerebrate felt the girl's tiny hands grip one of the carapace plates on his back, he opened his wings to the wind, pulling abruptly out of the dive and taking Amber with him. She cackled in pure exhilaration as the tree-tops passed so near that the careening mutalisk scraped their crowns. Within three mighty strokes, Bane climbed above them and banked right.

Though it worried the cerebrate to no end, Amber released her grip again and spread her arms to the wind as if they were wings of her own.

_"Please,"_ Rumbled Bane's telepathic voice, "Do not do that."

"Big Brother," Amber said whimsically, ignoring his request, "What's it like to have wings?"

The cerebrate had to entertain this question at least once a week since the first day he took the child flying.

"What are feet to you?"

The cerebrate's philosophical reply brought the child a moment of pause. Bane could feel her mind picking and turning with the question as they lazily glided over the trees.

"I don't know," Amber giggled with an honesty and innocence that seemed alien to the Terran species, "That's why I asked!"

"With wings," Bane replied as the mutalisk shifted on the wind, "One walks the currents of the air as you walk the paths of the ground."

For a few moments, the only sound was that of the passing air and the rhythmic stroke of the mutalisk's wings. Below them, the land rose up and dropped away again in another dramatic plunge of the rugged landscape.

"Big Brother," Amber spoke up in a nagging tone, "Mommy says I have to start school tomorrow. Why do I have to go?"

Bane hesitated as he thought of an appropriate answer. The cerebrate did not fully understand the concept himself, but he was able to draw some conclusions from past conversations with Maggie.

"There are things and skills you must know," Bane replied carefully, "In order to function in your Terran society."

Amber whined over the answer and bounced in place unhappily, "But I wanna stay home and play with you!"

This was another discussion that had appeared recently on the girl's growing list of repeated topics, but it still made the cerebrate ache to hear her ask and be forced to deny her. In truth, the cerebrate found the idea of letting Amber out of his direct watch to be terrifying. Like the child, Bane had been dreading the day ever since he was made aware of it. However, it had to be done if Amber was going to have any chance at a normal Terran life. No matter how it weighed on him, Bane would never deny her that chance.

"If only it could be so simple."

As the land slowly began leveling off, Bane turned East, back toward the sea and the bunker. Amber usually complained about going home, but this time, she was deep in thought. After nearly ten minutes of silence, the girl spoke once more.

"What if you went to school with me?"

Bane was prepared for this question already. In a slight tone of exhaustion, the cerebrate answered quickly.

"You know I cannot follow you into Terran cities. It would only bring trouble."

The trees passing below got shorter and thicker until they could be seen ending altogether near the horizon. From their height, the Hiemdall sea shined like a vast, curved jewel in the late afternoon sun. This time, Bane was the one to break the silence.

"Remember what I have taught you, mortal, and you shall never be alone so long as our minds are linked."

The smell of water and salt bombarded the senses as the mutalisk cleared the last of the trees and circled down over the beach. While Bane came in for a gentle landing in the forgiving sand, he could sense Amber concentrating her thoughts. With some effort, she was able to form words into another question.

_"Do you promise?"_

"You have my word," The cerebrate replied solemnly as the mutalisk hunkered as close to the ground as its awkward frame would permit. The child hopped down and began walking away, toward the bunker hidden just beyond the palms, when she stopped and looked up at the watching mutalisk with eyes as big as saucers.

"I have to wait for the shuttle early in the morning. Will you wait with me, Big Brother?"

The burning, crimson eyes of the creature softened a shade. When she looked at the cerebrate like that, she could practically ask for the planet itself.

"Of course I shall."

Waiting idly in the sand, the mutalisk watched the girl return to her home for another day. When Amber had been out of sight for half a minute, Bane looked South, to the tree line down the shore. The cerebrate was made aware of Caryn's presence from a dozen different sources in the immediate area before even touching down on the beach. As she approached, the mutalisk looked away from her scowling gaze.

"My apologies Caryn, I should not have-"

"I told you not to do this anymore!" The woman hissed, interrupting Bane in mid-sentence as she stalked up to the mutalisk jabbing with one finger. The cerebrate continued to avoid her eyes, staring at the time-beaten sand beneath the mutalisk's tail instead.

"She's just a little girl; you're confusing her! What's going to happen when she starts Terran history in grade school and finds out about those four times you god-forsaken aliens nearly succeeded in wiping out our race? How am I going to explain that?!"

The mutalisk was nearly a ton of muscle, armor and wings, but it shrank back, slinking sideways through the sand before the advancing wrath of the lean Terran woman. Bane did not have an answer to this, but then any answer would fall short of adequate when Caryn was angry with him. When the cerebrate failed to respond, Caryn folded her arms with an exaggerated sigh and turned her back on the creature.

"As you probably already know, Amber is starting school tomorrow," Caryn spoke up again in a stern, more controlled tone, "She'll be around other humans her age. It will be a chance for her to start a normal life, away from all the aliens and fighting. She deserves a chance at happiness, even in this screwed up sector."

If only for a brief moment, Caryn's voice softened just a little.

"Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes," the cerebrate's telepathic voice replied as the mutalisk glanced down at Caryn's backside, "Amber deserves all those things."

"Good," Caryn nodded, quickly returning to her previous tone, "Then you know why I'm asking you to leave."

Bane knew this was coming, but still he was struck numb. He could never have explained how or why, but the cerebrate needed the mortals in his existence now. Just the thought of abandoning Caryn and the child seemed to draw the very life from him. However, he was also terribly aware that Caryn was right.

"The Zerg can travel through space, right?" She began again, picking up volume, "I want you gone–off the planet. The ones watching from the horizons and burrowed underground around my home; all of you."

Caryn's voice began to break, as it sometimes did on the few occasions that Bane spoke with her, but she pressed on,

"Just...go back to that burned out hell-hole with the rest of your monsters and don't come back!"

For a long time, neither of them spoke. Caryn's words were always hurtful, but these cut into Bane like no others. He did not think he could bear living without them, without Amber, but Bane held their health and happiness far above his own. If leaving would afford the child a chance at a better life, Bane would never deny her that chance in favor of his own will.

"Tomorrow," Caryn said with a tone of finality as she turned to face the mutalisk again, "Tomorrow after Amber gets back from school, I want you gone. Am I understood?"

The cerebrate avoided her stare and did not speak for a time. However, Caryn was in no mood for stalling.

"Well?!" She hissed expectantly, leaning forward at the mutalisk.

"Very well," Bane said at last, "It shall be as you wish."

"Good!" Caryn shot back as she flung her hand skyward, "Now get out of my sight!"

Bane did not know what to say. In the end, there was only one thing he could say.

"Fare the well, Caryn."

With a mighty heave of its tail and a powerful thrust of its wings, the Mutalisk launched itself free of the sand. It circled overhead twice, gaining altitude, before turning East over the ocean.

The next morning was just a bit colder than the one before. Amber was bundled in long sleeves and a cloth cap and she held a mostly empty satchel across her lap as Bane plodded along beneath her. The child's first shuttle to school was due to meet her a few miles down the beach, but they would be there in plenty of time.

"Big Brother," Amber asked sleepily, "Why does school start so early?"

The cerebrate made slow, steady progress through the sand and thought about this question a moment before giving in.

"I do not know," Bane confessed as he found himself staring out at the surf. The ocean was glassy calm that day. Silently, Bane envied its stillness.

"Have you ever been to school, Brother?" Amber spoke up again. Her curiosity seemed especially bottomless this morning.

"No," The zergling answered quickly, "I have not."

Bane's statement didn't phase the girl. Just as quickly, she fired back.

"Why not?"

"It is not a thing of my species," Bane replied simply, "When we begin life, we start with all the knowledge we require."

Amber was quiet for a time. Bane could sense she did not entirely understand, but she had no idea what other questions might clarify the statement. The brief spell of confusion bought the cerebrate nearly a full minute of silence before the child gave up and focused her attention elsewhere.

"Mommy says I have to learn to read," Amber began again, changing tones, "Can you read, Big Brother?"

"Yes," the zergling warily answered, fully aware of where the next question would lead, "I am capable of deciphering a limited portion of your written tongue."

Amber leaned forward and over until her face hung upside-down in front of Bane's.

"Who learned you to read, Big Brother?"

Try as he might, the cerebrate could not avoid the child's gaze. Guilt began to swell inside him, but Bane painfully forced it back down and managed an answer.

"...A friend."

Thankfully, this seemed to satisfy the girl and divert her attention at the same time.

"Momma says I can make lots of new friends at school."

With a grateful, rumbling sigh, the zergling agreed.

"And so you shall."

"Can you take my new friends flying, too?" Amber asked as if she already made this plan in advance and had people waiting.

"I do not believe so," Bane answered again, careful not to be overly harsh. He already knew what was coming next.

"Why not?"

"You are very special," the cerebrate explained with rehearsed clarity, "You do not see me as do the other Terrans. They would not find my presence as a welcome one; the same reason that I ask you not to mention me at your school."

Amber frowned as the zergling came to a halt at the designated shuttle stop, marked from the rest of the shore by only a dilapidated missile turret half-buried in the sand. Bane knelt gently to his foreclaws and the girl climbed down from the alien's back with practiced ease.

"They won't like you, Big Brother?" Amber asked, genuinely confused, "But you're so nice!"

"It was not always like this," Bane resisted the urge for a verbal growl, "They only know my species as they were before we...changed."

Amber sat down in the sand and leaned against the old turret while the zergling sat back on its haunches across from her. Bane turned from the child's prying stare and looked out to sea again as he continued.

"There are some Terrans in this world, bad Terrans, who would destroy your life if they were aware of me. I do not wish this fate for you or Caryn. For all of our safety, please keep our time together a secret."

As Bane's explanation came to a close, he faced Amber once more,

"Can you do this, Little Sister?"

Amber tucked in her bottom lip and nodded her head vigorously.

"Good," Bane nodded back, "I knew you would understand."

They were both quiet for a while, but it wasn't long before the child became anxious again and began digging in her little yellow backpack.

"Do you wanna see my school stuff, Big Brother?"

The zergling nodded and Amber proceeded to show off her belongings; brightly decorated folders of paper and simple writing implements. She held up each of her markers one at a time, naming them by color as she went. Bane wasn't familiar with the Terran terminology for different hues, and inadvertently found himself learning from the child. Once she had given attention to each item, Amber opened a notebook and began drawing a crude portrait of the zergling sitting and staring back at her. It was multi-colored and comically disproportionate, but it had a unique style that could only be forged by the hand of a child.

Through the keen vision of a distant, watchful overlord, Bane became aware of an approaching craft.

"Your shuttle draws near," the zergling announced as it stood, "I must leave you for now, lest I am seen."

Amber looked sad, but the state of her mind told Bane that she knew the importance of this secrecy.

"Will you be here to walk me home?" The girl asked while she stood as well.

"Of course I shall," Bane replied, allowing the eyes of the zergling to glow a shade brighter.

With a last look back, the zergling trotted away and into the tree line to watch the shuttle land. The ship came from the South-West, from the direction of the city. It was a large, re-purposed troop carrier, painted a faded yellow and dotted with flashing lights.

As it came down to rest on the sand, Amber looked back toward the trees and waved. Bane resisted the urge to wave back and eyed the ramp of the vessel as it opened. A wash of high-pitched voices, yelling and laughter echoed over the beach, bombarding the alien's senses as Amber shouldered her little bag and stepped on board.

Bane wanted to be with her in every fiber of his being, but it was already too late for second guesses. The shuttle door closed, locking the sounds of the children, and Amber, inside for the journey back. The cerebrate focused skyward, briefly absorbing a mental image of the beach and the shuttle a great distance below. He could follow the craft with mutalisks undetected until he reached the cities perimeter defenses. Beyond that, he could only watch and wait at distance for the shuttle to appear again.

There was much to do before Amber returned home. The vast numbers of the swarm were at idle on Char, but Bane had a small regime of them hidden on Hiemdall for Caryn and the child's immediate defense. Since the first day they returned here, the hidden brood was only needed once to foil an unwelcome visit from remnants of the Ellison faction before being relegated to Amber's companions and glorified play-things. Bane summoned the Overlords; he would need all six of them to carry the miniature brood off-world.

Caryn followed him around outside the bunker, if only to be sure that no creature was left hidden beneath the sand. All totaled, Bane had twenty zerglings, eight hydralisks and two of the fearsome lurkers burrowed nearby. Both to Caryn and the cerebrate's content, Amber had never witnessed the nightmarish, towering forms of the lurkers and had no clue that they were even underfoot for most of her seven years.

As each overlord was filled to capacity, Bane sent the creatures aloft again to await the rest of their brethren in the relative safety of the clouds. Solemnly, the cerebrate loaded them all, leaving only one overlord in the area to watch for the returning shuttle and a single zergling on the ground for his final meeting with Amber.

When Bane was finished with his unhappy task, he returned to the bunker, sat in the sand and stared. He had only spent a fractional portion of his existence here, yet that short time with Amber made all the eons of evolution, combat and death seem small and utterly insignificant. Bane could not bear the thought of leaving them behind, but it was against his charge to disobey Caryn. Could the things she said be true, the cerebrate thought desperately. Would Amber have a chance at a better life without him? If Bane knew the answer, he would make the decision without a moment's hesitation. But what if she was wrong?

When the afternoon started to wane into the first long shadows of evening, Caryn came outside and stood next to Bane. The zergling, who hadn't moved for nearly two hours, half-glanced in Caryn's direction before looking down at its fore claws.

"Are you sure this is what you desire?"

For a long time, Caryn didn't answer. The cerebrate could feel the distorted patterns of her mind as she stood silently next to him. Like his own, they were a fleeting tangle of dread and uncertainty. Just like him, she was trapped by a choice. She exhaled deeply, willing her thoughts to form order that she may speak.

"The day before we arrived on Shakuras, Reece told me about you," Caryn began slowly, "He told me about how you helped him as a kid; all the scrapes you've been through. He talked about all the times he was almost killed and the things you did to keep it from happening. Reece was really fond of you..."

Caryn's strength failed briefly, but she pushed through it and forced a wry grin with the memory,

"...The guy was willing to give everything he had for his pet Zerg. Everything."

Bane was still, crushed beneath the rise of old guilts and sorrows. He could not speak; not then. When Caryn started again, Bane could feel worry and desperation behind the words.

"I...I can see the same thing happening to my little girl-happening right in front of my eyes," For the first time that day, she and Bane looked eye to eye. The cerebrate was taken back by the mix of anger and pain he found.

"Amber is only seven, five years younger than Reece was when he met you, and she's already obsessed. I can't let her go on like this, Bane, she can't...she doesn't deserve to go through that too! Amber deserves better."

The cerebrate could not challenge her logic, and he had no desire to do so. Despite the malice Caryn held for him, Bane sensed how this decision was weighing on her and offered sympathy.

"Do not blame yourself," Bane said, looking away again, "I wrought this fate."

The zergling lifted its head when Bane received a vision from the nearby overlord. Amber's shuttle was returning; she would be at her stop in minutes.

"I will depart after nightfall," the cerebrate announced as the zergling stood and faced Caryn once more, "If ever you have need of me, tell Amber and I will come on swift wings."

Without looking back, Caryn answered softly,

"We won't."

Though their distances from the aging missile turret were roughly the same, Bane beat the shuttle with time to spare. As he watched the craft make its approach over the beach, he cast his mind toward the vessel and its occupants. He could sense Amber on board, but something was off about her. The zergling inched up to the edge of its cover to watch as the thing settled into the sand and the ramp came down. This was the longest time that Amber had spent out of the cerebrate's watch. Naturally, Bane was thrilled and relieved to see the girl step outside in one piece.

The moment the craft lifted off and again and began pulling away, Amber was scanning the trees.

"Big Brother?" the cerebrate heard her in his mind, "Are you here, brother?"

Impressive, Bane thought absently as he left his hiding place. She was improving every day.

"I am here," the zergling replied in kind just before it stepped into view. Amber spotted him immediately and gave Bane the widest grin he'd seen on the child since he first took her flying.

"Big Brother!" She exclaimed, skipping through the sand to throw her arms around the zergling's neck.

"Was there doubt?" Bane asked as he returned the child's embrace with a jagged, wet tongue to the face.

"Brother!" Amber whined half-heartedly as she pushed the zergling's jaws away, "Stop that!"

Amber released her hug and Bane knelt down to allow her to climb on easily. After she swung a leg over the zergling's back, the cerebrate took her satchel on one blade and they began the slow walk back to the bunker.

"How fared your day?" Bane asked once they had started off.

"It was boring!" Amber sighed, letting her hands flop down on her thighs, "They made me do tests all day!"

"Tests?" Bane growled, "What sort of test could they require of someone they have not yet taught?"

"It wasn't fair," Amber continued, "Everyone else was done, but they kept me."

Something about this didn't seem right to the cerebrate. Why would the Terrans single out Amber from the rest of the children?

"They?" Bane asked, trying to keep his tone level. Amber scrunched up her nose with the memory.

"They said they was scientist, but I don't like them. They poked me with needles and made me answer a lot of questions. They weren't nice at all, Big Brother."

The very thought of anyone, anywhere, displacing a hair on Amber made the cerebrates blood boil. The fact that someone hurt her nearly made him furious on the spot. As closely as their minds were linked, Amber picked up on this immediately.

"Oh no," she said quickly, patting the zergling's flank reassuringly, "Don't get mad, Big Brother! I'm okay!"

At Amber's request, Bane willed the anger to recede. She was right, the cerebrate told himself. Getting upset now would solve nothing, and there were far more pressing matters at hand. Before they were halfway to the bunker, Bane gradually came to a stop.

"Amber," the cerebrate said carefully, "My dearest Little Sister, please climb down. There is something I must tell you."

"What's wrong?" The girl asked when she was standing on her own feet.

Already, Bane could feel his strength draining away as he looked into the child's eyes. Amber's care-free smile slowly turned to a look of concern while the cerebrate gathered the words.

"I...will not be able to walk with you tomorrow."

For the longest moment, there was silence. Only the wind in the trees and the distant static of the surf made any sound. In an apologetic tone, Bane continued.

"I must go away for some time, to a place very far from here."

Bane had stared down the likes of First-Born demi-gods and the fiercest warrior breeds of his kind without flinching, yet the torn look in those fragile blue eyes was crushing him. When the girl spoke, her tiny voice was the saddest, most depressing sound the cerebrate ever heard.

"Why, Big Brother?"

Bane was torn; the last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt Amber, but he could not simply let the fault fall on Caryn either. He also knew that the state of his mind was dragging the child's down as well. He had to be strong, for both their sakes.

"Please trust my word, Amber. Your health and happiness mean more to me than existence itself, but this is a thing I must do for you."

Amber began sniffling, and suddenly the zergling felt as if the weight of the world was pressing a spike through its chest. With her voice breaking this time, the child spoke again.

"I _don't want_ you to go!"

Of all the cerebrate's uncertainties, one thing was not among them. He would never abandon Amber.

"It will not be for good," Bane said resolutely, "Amber, know that if you ever have need of me, you need only to speak and I will come."

The child was still gripped with tears, but a tiny light shone in her eyes. She had certainties of her own, and she believed in her Big Brother.

"Do you promise?" Amber whimpered, wiping at her eyes with the backs of her hands.

"You have my word," the zergling nodded solemnly, "Please do not be sad, Little Sister."

The girl made a visible attempt to bolster her strength, tucking in her bottom lip as she stared up at the red lamps of the zergling's eyes.

"I'll try."

"Come, we must be off now," The zergling motioned with its head, "Caryn is expecting you."

Amber still sniffled, but she nodded and returned to the zergling's back. As he began walking again, a thought in the back of the cerebrate's mind began nagging at his attention. There was something about Amber's first day at school that didn't sit right; something someone told him long ago. However, the burden of the child's sadness soon outweighed these thoughts again and Bane turned his efforts back to reviving her.

"Amber," Bane growled lightly as he paced along, "Would you like to go night-flying before I depart?"

Amber always wanted to ride a mutalisk at night, but Bane had denied her in the past for fear of her safety. For the first time since that morning, the girl sounded a little more like herself,

"I would like that, Big Brother."

The evening was drawing to a close. Amber would be finishing her dinner soon, so Bane summoned a pair the of the mutalisks from their guard of the waiting overlords. Whenever the cerebrate took the girl flying, he always brought an extra set of wings–just in case. Moving at many times the rate of their larger airborne brethren, the fliers would arrive in short order.

Without a presence near the bunker, Bane could not sense Amber's approach ahead of time, but the cerebrate had no doubt that she would come. They were to meet on the beach, halfway between the bunker and the old missile turret. Caryn would vastly disapprove of the night-flight, yet Bane was determined to make the most of this last visit. He had to soften this blow for Amber.

The mutalisks were only a few miles out and the sun had all but vanished behind the trees when something made the pacing zergling stop cold in its tracks. Bane was so preoccupied in thought that, when he received a frail telepathic message, he was not sure of what he sensed until it came again. This time, the cerebrate was waiting for it and the words became clear.

_"Big Brother!"_

It was Amber. And she was scared.

_"Help us, Big B-"_

Bane was already moving, racing toward the bunker as quickly as his claws could carry him, when Amber's plea for help was abruptly cut short. With a single, fleeting thought, the cerebrate willed the return of the overlords and their deadly warrior payloads. They were ascending to the ground at the fastest possible rate, but they would be far too slow to be of any immediate assistance. For now, Bane was alone as he ran harder than he had in all his existence.

"Amber!" Bane tried desperately as he crashed through the trees and underbrush in a direct beeline for the bunker, "I am coming, Little Sister!"

When the zergling burst into the clearing around the bunker, it dug in its heels and slid to a halt. The bunker door was missing, blasted inwards and off its hinges.

_"Amber?!"_ Bane called desperately as he leaped through the doorway, _"Caryn?!"_

The inside was quiet and empty. It couldn't have been more than a minute since Bane first received the cry for help, but already he was too late. Then, echoing through the night, the cerebrate picked up a single scream in the distance and a faint, undistinguishable shouting of men.

Bane whirled at the sound and tore off again. In seconds, the zergling was careening through the brush once more, running full bore in the direction of the scream. The cerebrate could no longer feel the connection of Amber's mind, but Bane could not bring himself to dwell on the reason. His only thought was of reaching her and Caryn, and stopping whoever was trying to take them from him.

There, almost a hundred yards distant and to the right, the cerebrate's keen vision spotted the slightest movement between the trees. As Bane drew closer, he began to pick up their mental signatures. He could sense five, then six of them, plus Caryn. They were fleeing, attempting to reach what they believed was a beacon of safety. The state of Caryn's mind was akin to staring at ones reflection; shock, bewilderment, fear. Anger.

A ship, the cerebrate realized in horror, they must be running for a nearby ship. Almost at the same moment, Bane saw them: the Terrans and two craft occupying a clearing ahead. Already, he could hear thrusters firing as one of them closed up and began lifting off.

"No!" Bane radiated his telepathic voice in fury and desperation, _"NO!_ You know not what you do!"

The ones near the second ship were pushing onboard their craft in a hurry; Caryn disappeared inside kicking and screaming. When the enraged zergling became visible through the trees, two of the dark soldiers turned with their weapons as the ship sang to life. Bane was forced to slow, veering behind the nearest trunks while high-caliber rounds whistled through the brush around him.

Bane's plea had fallen on closed minds. They ignored the warning, continuing to fire heavy, single rounds to slow the zergling while their ship lifted off. The cerebrate desperately wanted to charge directly for the ramp, but if this body were slain now, he could lose the vessels entirely. Two of the six mutalisks were only moments away with the other four close behind, and the overlords were already in sight of the beach. All he needed was more time.

The craft's thrusters throttled up and it blasted clear of the ground with the rear hatch still open. Defending until the very last, two of the soldiers remained at the opening and fired madly into the jungle where they last spotted the zergling. The moment uranium slugs ceased to rain around him, Bane tore from the trees and put all his strength into his legs for a single, powerful leap.

It wasn't enough. One of the zergling's scythes just grazed the vessel's keel at the apex of his jump before Bane dropped back to the dirt. For a split-second, the cerebrate watched the ship pull away, committing its course to memory, and then he was off like a shot once again. The zergling practically flew through the jungle, straight back to the shore.

Once clear of the trees and out on the sand, Bane plowed nearly to a halt and used his momentum in another vertical leap just as the two mutalisks swooped low overhead. One fore claw caught purchase on a mutalisk's under-plating and the zergling was hauled skywayrd. The other flyer winged into position below and Bane released his grip, dropping onto the second mutalisk's back with surgical precision. The first craft already had a considerable lead; even with eyes capable of perfect vision in total darkness, the vessel only stood out as a speck in the distance, flying low over the treetops. With the bare mutalisk, Bane turned after the far ship.

Through the eyes of the remaining mutalisk, Bane spotted the second craft veering out over the ocean. The cerebrate redirected the Overlords with a thought. This course would allow him to intercept the second ship with more than just a flier.

Caryn was tied, gagged and blindfolded, and still she struggled against the seat harnesses that held her firm. The specialist team had acquired their target, but the child's mother was the least of their concerns.

"What the_ hell_ was that?!" One of the black-clad soldiers said through his mask.

Their squad leader, who had remained cold and confident throughout the mission, dismissed the question with a wave of one gloved hand.

"It was only a damned zergling,_ a crazy one;_ forget about the critter! We're long gone now and we still have a job to finish."

Two of the men sat on either side of Caryn, holding her by the arms. The one on the left spoke up, saying what was on all their minds.

"With all due respect, Lieutenant, you cannot say you didn't hear that. It almost sounded like the thing was...asking us to stop."

Still fighting the grip of her captors, Caryn managed to peel her gag off with her shoulder. Before one of the soldiers could force it back on, she yelled out.

"You bastard's should have listened to him! _You're all dead!_ When he finds us, you're all as good as _dead!_"

"No," the squad leader corrected as he motioned for the gag to be reapplied, "You're the one who's going to be dying. We'll be dropping you off shortly for a little swim with two between the eyes," The Ghost paused for a moment as he looked Caryn over once, "A damn shame if you ask me. Ain't it boys?"

The soldiers on either side of Caryn shared a dark chuckle as the woman lashed out with one leg in a feeble attempt to kick the squad leader.

"It's not a total waste though," He continued with a dark laugh of his own, "We'll still have your daughter to look forward to."

Caryn became livid, kicking and jamming against her seat harness like a thing gone mad. The Lieutenant grabbed Caryn by a fist-full of hair and forced her to be still.

"And there's nothing your little pet zergling can do about it. Stupid woman; everyone knows zerglings can't fly."

Without warning, a resounding metallic impact rang from the vessel's roof, quickly followed by three more in rapid succession. One of the soldiers stood up and grabbed his weapon from where it was propped against the next seat.

_"What the hell?!"_

Like a hammer blow from the dark, a tremendous impact drove the ship's nose down violently. The lights inside the hold flickered as a second and third collision rolled the vessel completely over in the air. Only Caryn and the pilots were strapped in; the soldiers all but tumbled from wall to wall as the ship's thrusters wailed to regain control. With the vessel's structure groaning under the strain, the ship resisted a second roll, but it still tipped and turned, starting into a heaving downward spiral.

Nearly inaudible over the laboring engines, one of the pilots yelled from the forward cockpit as multiple alarms began wailing.

"They came out of nowhere! We can't shake them!"

It was a light craft, designed for stealth and quick extractions. Just the added weight of three mutalisks was enough to overcome the lift of its repulsor engines. The coordinated resistance of their thrashing wings sent the vessel into a flat-spin. One of the soldiers was already injured from the initial impact, favoring a compound fracture in his fore-arm that was bleeding through his armor. The other was fortunate to have come out of the roll with only a few cuts and bruises, but his rifle was left sliding across the deck toward the front of the hold.

Using the support of a hand-rail, the squad leader hauled himself upright with blood running over his mask. In moments, he had taken in the situation and pulled the emergency release for the cargo hold.

"Call in the air support!" He hollered over the sudden rush of air by the rear door, "We're getting wet on this one!"

Before the pilots were able to respond, the windshield could be heard shattering inward and murderous screams erupted from the cockpit. All at once, any semblance of control the vessel once had was immediately lost. Clinging with their metal-piercing claws, five zerglings rushed into the hold as the ship spiraled into a steep dive. With a broken arm, one of the soldiers stood no chance of keeping his footing, sliding forward uncontrollably into the waiting scythes of the aliens. Of the two Ghosts still capable of hanging on and fighting at the same, one of them managed to swing his rifle into position as the zerglings poured from the cockpit and over his comrade.

The report of a high-caliber rifle thundered in the confined space of the hold. The lead zergling took the round center mass and reeled over backwards against the forward bulkhead. However, two more surged by and overtook the second Ghost before he could do the same. The man's screams were lost in chaos when the weight and vengeful blades of the aliens dragged him down to roll in the deadly spin of the ship. Intent on finishing the deed before he lost all control of the situation, the squad leader raised his weapon toward Caryn as he practically hung above her by one arm. With the last available zergling, the cerebrate lunged straight up from the cockpit, kicked off one wall and sailed between Caryn and the rifle.

A shrill screech lashed the chaotic air and blood splattered over Caryn when the zergling took a slug in the flank and rolled back down the deck. The soldier swore, awkwardly working the action on his rifle with one hand. Bane had two zerglings left on board; the cerebrate abandoned his initial victim, clawing and climbing for the ghost at rate that seemed unnatural. At the last moment, the ghost abandoned his long rifle and drew his sidearm, pelting the incoming fiend with a lead hail. The zergling screeched and squealed in pain with each little impact, but Bane put his head down and rammed upward, into the man's chest. In the blink of an eye, they both disappeared into open air over the edge of the cargo ramp.

Suddenly, the only sound was that of the debris and bodies rolling around the tumbling craft and the howling wind. The ship's fall was becoming increasingly unstable; Bane had to cling to the grated floor with all the zergling's limbs just to keep from being tossed around the hold or sucked out the open cargo door. Doggedly, the cerebrate clawed his way through the ship to Caryn, who still struggled wildly with her restraints. Sparing one of its blades, the zergling flicked away Caryn's blindfold and then separated the metal clasps binding her hands in front.

For half a heart-beat, beast and woman locked eyes before Bane's telepathic words raced in her mind.

_"When I cut you free, hold on to me and do not let go!"_

Caryn flinched when one of the Ghost's bodies crunched against the wall next her on its fourth trip around the hold, followed quickly by the ruined corpse of a zergling, then she nodded. Bane waited until the craft's tumble was just right before slashing Caryn's seat harnesses with one deft pass of a scythe. She practically fell against the zergling, but in the same moment, Caryn locked her arms around the creature's middle.

Time was nearly up; Bane was made terribly aware of it by the desperate mental images from the mutalisks. The cerebrate had only seconds before the craft met the ocean below. With grim determination, Bane clawed his way up once more, anchoring Caryn to the floor as everything in the hold spun wildly around them. Caryn's legs even turned in the air with the changes in inertia.

With a final, mighty heave, Bane hurled himself out of the shuttle through the open cargo door, towing Caryn with him. Vertigo briefly overwhelmed the woman as the tremendous rush of air broke her grasp and the zergling tumbled away into empty space.

Caryn screamed, a horrified, animalistic sound, while the mutalisks broke away from the falling ship. Plummeting with her, the closest of them drew near enough that Caryn could almost touch the red wings if she wasn't out of her mind with fear.

"Caryn!" Bane's telepathic plea bombarded her from all directions,_ "Caryn!"_

At last, the traumatized woman registered the help so near and reached for the mutalisk's back with both hands. The second Bane felt her grip find purchase, the mutalisk spread its wings just before they all hurtled into the water together.

The ship plunged into the Hiemdall sea before them, blasting the fliers with spray as they strained their wings to the limit in order to pull out of the fall. One of them clipped a high wave crest and bayed in pain as it was sent reeling across the surface of the water before disappearing into the deep. The cerebrate mentally grimaced with pain; two of the zerglings gave their lives in the rescue and another was on its way to the bottom of the ocean with a crippled mutalisk shortly behind. Bane was essentially the consciousness of all Zerg and their pain was his own.

This was Caryn's first experience on the back of a mutalisk, but it was no time for such novelties. The woman sobbed uncontrollably as Bane winged skyward once more; words formed amidst the rage and crying half lost to the passing wind and the churn of the sea.

"Save her, Bane!_ Please!_ You have to save Amber!"

Bane knew by now, even if he could not sense it. Amber was not on Caryn's ship, therefore, this second craft had to hold the child. Caryn was safe, but up until now, the cerebrate had only followed the craft. With only a mutalisk, he couldn't overtake the ship as he had done the first one. The other four were closing the distance with a fresh load of zerglings, but it wasn't nearly fast enough. He had been following the craft since it left the beach, and the presence of the mutalisk could not have gone unnoticed for so long.

Appearing as distant fires in the sky, the cerebrate spotted three wraith fighters rocketing from the city to escort their prize.

"No..." Bane thought fleetingly as he glanced between the shuttle and the approaching wraiths, _"No!"_

For a desperate moment, the cerebrate considered attacking the shuttle, yet he could not risk hurting Amber. The wraith pilots spotted the flier instantly, veering from their course for an interception. Bane knew his time was limited now; he could not defeat the fighters with a single mutalisk. However, neither could he simply give up. If he could stall them long enough for reinforcements to arrive, there would still be a chance. As the Wraiths drew within attack range, the mutalisk nosed into a sharp dive.

The fighter engines screamed as the they passed overhead with laser batteries chattering. Most of the shots went wide, with the closest of them only grazing, but the Wraiths quickly turned onto the mutalisk's tail in pursuit. When they began firing again, the cerebrate could feel the heat of the beams as they flashed by on all sides. Bane banked into a hard turn, desperately trying to shake his attackers, but the experienced wraith pilots were waiting for this.

Pain seared across the cerebrate's mind as the laser fire raked across the mutalisk's backside and blasted holes in one wing. The creature was crippled, but still Bane tried to escape, turning hard in the opposite direction.

One of the wraiths peeled away, doubling back again as the others chased the mutalisk into position. It was all the injured flier could do just to stay clear of the laser fire from two ships. When the third achieved a target lock and launched a salvo of missiles, the cerebrate could not avoid them.

Bane got one last look at the fleeing dropship, heading back towards the city, before the senses of the mutalisk burned from the his reach with a hot, white light.

The zergling opened the crimson lamps of it eyes and met Caryn's. Bane hesitated, and Caryn knew before Bane could tell her.

"The mutalisk was slain...I...I lost the ship."

Bane helplessly watched the color drain from Caryn's face. Much like his own, her mind was a turmoil of despair and anger. The cerebrate was all but certain that she would lose herself in rage at any second. Bane was taken back when she suddenly threw herself against the zergling and buried her face in its shoulder plates.

"Oh, Bane!" She cried without cease, "It's my fault! It's all my fault! If...if I hadn't told you to leave...I-"

Caryn trailed off, losing her voice to sobs as she clung to the zergling, surrounded in the glow of a dozen fiery eyes. For the moment, Bane wasn't sure of what he should do, so he simply stood by and waited while the woman's emotion spilled out. However, the woman's crying only grew deeper, bordering on hysteria. The cerebrate could remain silent no longer.

"It's..." Bane hesitated as he recalled the phrase, "It is going to be alright. All will be made right again..."

Slowly, Caryn began recovering, but her sobs where beginning to boil over into fury. Bane didn't flinch as she curled her hands into fists and hammered the zergling's chest and shoulders. The cerebrate only stood by, absorbing it all until the woman's energy finally began to slack. At last, Caryn pushed herself away to arm's length and met the zergling's gaze with a river of tears coursing over her flushed cheeks.

"Please..." Caryn choked, as if she had trouble saying the name, "Please, Bane...bring my daughter back..."

**_To Be Continued..._**


End file.
